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occult-roommates · 1 year

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Back to square one

A week had passed since the failed confession fiasco. Still, Dawud never came back to the apartment, except briefly that morning to gather his stuff in a suitcase. When he wasn’t at work, he wandered around the city, seeking shelters in various ways. He blocked absolutely everyone in his new life in San Myshuno, he did not want to see them, he could not handle it. Pretty much all of them or close are occults in one way or another, and he just out of nowhere went on this insane rant against them. Even if he was just pissed off and didn’t meant any of it, it’s pretty damn hard to apologize about that when he pretty much just said the same hateful rhetorics his occult roommates have heard against their kind all the time ever since they were little. If he were them he would not want an apology, they’d be dead to him. Hell, no need to pretend he’s an occult, if Daniele had called him a dirty Arab or a terrorist or something, he wouldn’t be friend with him anymore.

It kept on running through his head, that one question: why did he say that? He knows he didn’t meant it, he was just pissed and wanted to strike Daniele where it hurt, but why did he went there? Is this what he always believed deep down? He likes to believe he was raised to be a pretty open-minded guy, but you know, nobody is perfect. It felt a bit like as after spending years feeling numb, now all of his emotions were too intense for his own good.

So now, he was doing just like what he did the last time he fucked up massively, when he failed an assigment so hard he told himself “fuck it, I’m dropping out”. Cause not only was he avoiding the people he loved, he was now leaving everything, his new job, his new friends, his new life, everything, to live with Audrey and be a depressed mess. And in both case, it was kind of an impulse, an impulse for a complete rerouting of his life, but an impulse. Uh, he never really saw himself as the impulsive kind, but maybe he is deep down. Anyway, he still had to prevent Audrey he’s coming, so he was on the phone with her to tell her...the new. She took well the idea of him coming back, not so much the reason however.

Dawud: Assuming my flight won’t get delayed I should be there by around uh...Wait I’m taking the time zone into account let me do the math...Damn ok I should be here by...maximum 3 PM. Audrey: Ok but at that time I might be at work so I’ll leave the door unlocked for you. And speaking of time zone it’s like 6 AM in Strangerville so I’m going back to sleep before my alarm clock rings. See you later. Ralf: Dawud???

Dawud turned around and saw the tall man kinda run-walk towards him, before unexpectedly hugging him. Ralf was also one of the many people he blocked, luckily he didn’t came across him while at work that week, but you know, it was only a matter of time before he’d see him at the airport.

Ralf: Daniele told me what happened, he’s worried sick about you. All of us were. Dawud: Why should he worry me, I hurt him deeply. It’s not logical, he should hate me. I would hate me if I were him. Ralf: Well, he’s still your friend. You might have messed up, but it seems like he’s still willing to give you a second chance if you explain yourself a little bit and apologize.

Well, that was reassuring. Still, he wasn’t backing out of his decision. First of all the plane ticket was already bought, second of all he has quit his job and he doesn’t have the patience to get a new one in San Myshuno, third of all Audrey is gonna be real disappointed if he tells her he’s actually not going back to live with her. And he’s been disappointing enough people as of late. So, he sat down with Ralf on a bench, the same bench they had their first conversation months and months prior.

Dawud: I really don’t know why I said that. It feels like I’ve been possessed but you know, saying “oh I wasn’t acting like myself” is such a bullshit excuse for shitty behavior. I am me, everything I do is myself, unless I’m acting. If I’m actively lying then that means myself is a liar. Ralf: Every time I talk to you Dawud, it seems like you’re just now finding out at 23 that human beings can be messy and complicated, and you’re absolutely floored by this fact. Dawud: And all of that because I got rejected, that’s so stupid! I mean, in my defense, I never got rejected before, but still, I feel like at my age I should be handling it better than that. Most teenagers probably handle it better than that. Ralf: I mean, I did even more moronic and life ruining things just for some spellcaster’s bussy. Dawud: I...I...Please never say that word in front of me ever again??? Especially when we’re having a serious conversation. Ralf: Moronic?

Ralf started rambling that Dawud shouldn’t leave, the airlines he works at, Wind-enbair, doesn’t fly to the western United States. In fact, San Myshuno is pretty much the only destination out of Europe that they offer with the exception of some North African resort towns. That is pretty much only because San Myshuno is the world capital and has several European communities there, along with like every continents, but Wind-enbair is a German airlines. Dawud didn’t care. He’s wants to act as if the whole of 2019 never happened.

Dawud: But I swear I don’t actually hate occults. Like, I’ve been living with them for months and even before, Audrey is 1/4 fairy on her mother’s side...I don’t even know what point I’m trying to make anymore. Ralf: Hell, I could be an occult. You don’t know me...I mean, I am not. But I could be... Dawud: A-Are you??? Ralf: Nah. You saw me touch water and I didn’t turn half-fish, I do not have blue skin and fangs like a vampire, I wish I had powers like a spellcaster or a fairy, and werewolves cannot be pilot. Dawud: Wait really? Werewolves can’t? Ralf: Yeah, that sucks for them. I know a guy who accidentally got turned into one, ruined his career and then pretty much his entire life. Awful...Anyway, on brighter news, I heard Akva had her baby. She’s pretty cute. Dawud: I didn’t know you were in contact with my ex-roommates to be honest like first Daniele and now her? Ralf: Well, I don’t really reach out to them, it’s always the other way around, and just them. I never met your other roommates. But like, speaking of Akva, I hope she’s ok. I remember when I had my first son, he too was an accident but he quickly became the best part of my life. He’d be around your age nowadays...I miss him. Dawud: What why? Why do you... Ralf: I need to go!

The older man stood up and started walking away, almost running from his younger friend. To be honest, Ralf was switching from topic to topic in hope of making Dawud change his mind about going back to Strangerville. But now, he had said too much, way way too much. In fact he’s been saying too much this entire conversation, but that was the straw that broke the camel back!

Cause to also be honest, there are many things about him that Dawud do not know, and he does not want him to find out about it. Maybe it’s better this way that Dawud doesn’t want to see him ever again actually...

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#ts4 #sims 4 #the sims 4 #simblr #ts4 simblr #ts4 storytelling #occult roommates #dawud sahan #ralf montag #OcRo s1

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harrypotterfuryroad · 2 years

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hey there! it's me, the trans rights guy from uhhh

*frantically checks dates*

over a month ago! damn, it's been a while.

sorry for not responding in a timely manner. i ended up going on a month-long trip to turkey soon after you replied to my ask and for some reason tumblr was blocked. then i came back and completely forgot about it for like a week and a half, but now i am here. hi!

so, long story short, i didn't really change my mind on trans people, even after reading your post. i wanted to make some big response to it, but i don't feel like the most qualified person to talk about it since i'm cis and don't want to speak on the behalf of actual trans folk.

regardless, i wanted to give a short explanation as to why i still disagree with a lot of your points so i don't keep you in suspense >:P

so to begin with, the idea that there's "no such thing as a terf" is not really true. don't get me wrong, i understand what you're saying. in a lot of cases, it can be used as a sort of buzzword against someone you don't like. but this doesn't mean that the word is meaningless. a terf, by definition, a trans-exclusionary radical feminist. there are people that fit that definition, regardless of whether the term is thrown around when it shouldn't be. so again, i understand where you're coming from, and i'm sure that some of the people who are called terfs were called that wrongfully, but that doesn't mean that actual terfs don't exist. if actual terfs didn't exist, i don't think the term "terf" would have come into being in the first place.

second off, the idea of "what makes a woman a woman." i can't properly talk on this because, surprise surprise, i'm actually a dude! however, in my eyes, the issue is more social than biological. for example, if i'm walking down the street and i see a woman, my first thought isn't instantly "are they biologically female?" it's "oh, a woman." whether they're trans or not doesn't particularly matter to me. i think the biggest indicator that it's more a social thing than a biological one, though, is the fact that trans women can experience misogyny. misogyny is prejudice against women, so if a trans woman faces misogyny, doesn't that, by proxy, make them a woman?

my point with that isn't to be some sort of "ha! checkmate!" moment or anything, but just to show that there might be more to these definitions than just biology. to me, at least, if someone identifies as a woman or a man, i don't think there's any harm in treating them as such, using their preferred pronouns, et cetera. ultimately, if it makes them feel comfortable and it doesn't hurt anyone, why shouldn't i?

but that's my opinion, and again, i'm definitely not the most qualified to speak on this. to end this segment, though, i have a question for you: by refusing to call trans women women, who are you helping? and, conversely, who gets hurt when you call trans women women?

anyway, moving on, i think the female stuff is kinda funky but i don't really know anything about it so i can't really comment on it. one thing i do want to touch on, though, is the bit where you say that "calling women adult human female might hurt their feelings a little."

a couple of notes on that: i don't know too much about this so i may just be extrapolating, but i think that not accepting trans women as women can probably cause much more harm than simply hurting a few feelings. it can make it more difficult for trans people to get rights, limiting their access to healthcare and other needs. that just seems like the logical conclusion for me.

as for the part about terfs murdering trans people on the streets... what? maybe i'm not getting my information from the same sources as you, but i have never heard anything like that. the mere idea of that sounds absolutely ludicrous. but even still, that doesn't mean that terfs aren't hurting trans people. by spreading transphobic rhetoric, they are making it more difficult for trans people to get access to healthcare and makes it easier for lawmakers to restrict their rights. i think the logic is pretty clear there.

however, i do agree with what you say about dogpiling and screeching and harassing people. that stuff isn't helpful in the slightest, and it shouldn't occur.

also, yeah, i did come from the "not all men" post, though i think a lot of the transphobia accusations came from your harry potter pfp. j.k. rowling is a well-known transphobe, so i don't think it's completely insane for people to consider you to be one as well. i don't think it was a good thing that you were harassed for it, to be clear, i'm just trying to explain where it probably came from. i'm genuinely sorry about the harassment you received. nobody really deserves that.

sheesh that was long. sorry about that! hopefully it was an interesting read at least :P

there were a couple of videos that shaped a lot of my thoughts on this, which i'll post below: The Hidden Rules of Modern Society | Philosophy Tube - YouTube J.K. Rowling | ContraPoints - YouTube out of the two, i'd personally recommend watching philosophy tube's video. actually, i would personally recommend watching all of philosophy tube's videos, because they're all really interesting and make my brain hurt from thinking, so i have a feeling you'll like them.

anywho, that's about it. if you read through all that, thank you! if not, i don't particularly blame you. regardless, i wish you a snazzy rest of your day!

(the original ask)

i get why you disagree with me when i say there's no such thing as a terf, but you do seem to basically understand the point i'm trying to make. when you say though that there is such a thing as a radical feminist that's trans exclusionary, you're kinda showing that you're not 100% there - judging branches of feminism based on their opinions of trans people only serves to reorient feminism around trans people instead of women. the field of trigonometry isn't circle-exclusionary, it's just not primarily concerned with them

if actual terfs didn't exist, i don't think the term "terf" would have come into being in the first place.

witches don't exist either but we have a word for them and that didn't stop the idea of them from being used to terrorize and persecute women for centuries - this is what i meant by the term ascribing rather than describing

second off, the idea of "what makes a woman a woman." i can't properly talk on this because, surprise surprise, i'm actually a dude!

men are allowed to recognize and understand what a woman is

however, in my eyes, the issue is more social than biological.

tell that to any woman in your vicinity and brace yourself for the biggest eye roll you've ever seen

for example, if i'm walking down the street and i see a woman, my first thought isn't instantly "are they biologically female?" it's "oh, a woman."

but what's that conclusion based on? not clothes - you'd certainly recognize someone's sex regardless of what they're wearing (otherwise you're saying that for example a dress is inherently female). you might have associations based on specific types of clothes but you'd still be able to tell. hair, makeup, etc are out for the same reasons. so yes, you are going off of biological factors whether you're cognizant of it or not. you are able to differentiate between a man and woman even if we keep height/weight/whatever constant almost instantaneously. but that's not even what's important here - you've trained yourself to associate basic pattern recognition with guilt

misogyny is prejudice against women, so if a trans woman faces misogyny, doesn't that, by proxy, make them a woman?

if i throw racial slurs at a white person it doesn't make them not white, how is this any different

also i covered in the first post why "someone who faces misogyny" is a bad definition of woman (which is the definition you're asserting by saying this)

i think that not accepting trans women as women can probably cause much more harm than simply hurting a few feelings. it can make it more difficult for trans people to get rights, limiting their access to healthcare and other needs.

i'm not accepting them as women, but that doesn't mean i'm not accepting them as human. any groups attempting to limit their human rights are fundamentally at odds with anything i believe

and elective cosmetic surgeries aren't healthcare or needs

as for the part about terfs murdering trans people on the streets... what? maybe i'm not getting my information from the same sources as you, but i have never heard anything like that.

you certainly have heard this. even if not word-for-word (which i admit i punched up a little for effect) you've heard of the super high death rate in the trans community (which isn't backed up by any data) and you've seen this in juxtaposition with criticism of feminists - usually people who had nothing at all to do with the problem being discussed. so this association is really easy to see if you're looking at the bigger picture

but even still, that doesn't mean that terfs aren't hurting trans people. by spreading transphobic rhetoric, they are making it more difficult for trans people to get access to healthcare and makes it easier for lawmakers to restrict their rights.

remember a second ago when i said that people were juxtaposing ominous threats to trans people with criticism of feminists who were absolutely not involved to create a narrative that feminists are to blame for anything that happens to trans people

j.k. rowling is a well-known transphobe

prove it

i started this by saying that "terf" is meaningless but "transphobe" is getting there too. disagreement is not bigotry, and you won't be able to point to anything jk rowling has said or done that amounts to more than disagreement. by diluting the category of transphobe so thoroughly, you're really only serving to overshadow actual bigotry and violence faced by trans people. the only people i've seen who were interested in actually piecing together and preventing the patterns of violence targeting trans people were called terfs for doing so, because it's immediately apparent that the culprits are men and a nontrivial portion of them are sex buyers. when a john gets arrested with a copy of the scum manifesto in his pocket then we can talk, but somehow i doubt that'll happen any time soon. i know there was that one republican congressman who used a quote from jk rowling in some speech pushing for anti trans legislation, but it was so thoroughly stripped from the original context that he could've been quoting anybody for the same effect. everyone recognizes that republicans contort bible quotes to serve their ends, but suddenly it's inconceivable that they'd warp quotes from anywhere else

i don't think it's completely insane for people to consider you to be one as well. i don't think it was a good thing that you were harassed for it, to be clear, i'm just trying to explain where it probably came from. i'm genuinely sorry about the harassment you received. nobody really deserves that.

i mean i'm doing just fine. i've gotten more support from that post than harassment and i would do it again in an instant. "you didn't deserve it but i see where they were coming from" isn't as comforting as you probably thought it was tho, especially since the most common version of the anons i got was "you have the words harry and potter in your url so i'm gonna tell you to kill yourself." like please tell me which part of that you think is well-intentioned or reasonable or not completely insane

anyway if it's all the same to you i'll pass on the philosophy tube and contrapoints videos, i've watched enough of them over the years to know they're usually 50-minute bloviating odysseys that never really get to a point, especially since philosophy tube started singlewhitefemale-ing contrapoints

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upon-the-waters · 2 years

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Rerum Novarum: Part One

I’ve been studying Catholic social teaching/Christian democracy a bit lately, and decided to do a read-through of Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical on capital and labor; the title is Latin for “Of Revolutionary Change.” Some bullet points as a sort of TL;DR, except it also gets fairly long. I’ve decided to split this analysis into multiple parts-- this post goes through Nos. 1-15.

- Rerum Novarum condemns laissez-faire capitalism in no uncertain terms, calling it “the greed of unchecked competition" and “rapacious usury.”

- “A small number of very rich men have been able to lay upon the teeming masses of the laboring poor a yoke little better than that of slavery itself.” Pope Leo called out the top 1% all the way back in 1891, which I think is pretty neat.

- The one thing I wish Rerum Novarum addressed was the community of Christians in Acts-- the Bible’s pretty dang clear that the early church “had all things in common,” and “no one said that anything that belonged to him was his own” i.e., they were proto-socialists. (Acts 2:44, 4:32) Pope Leo just kinda launches ahead with his belief that the abolition of private property would “rob the lawful possessor, distort the functions of the State, and create utter confusion in the community.” Which, to be fair, the Bible is also pretty clear that stealing and coveting is wrong, and it’s easy to logically infer an affirmation of private property from that: you can’t steal or covet something that already belongs to everyone, including you.

EDIT: I should clarify again that I’ve only just started reading Rerum Novarum, and for all I know it does go back later and discuss the socialism in Acts-- however, from a rhetorical standpoint it had a perfect point to do so in Nos. 5-15 when it argues against socialism, as those two Bible verses can essentially unravel any arguments on the topic the Pope might have and I’d like to see his attempts at refuting them.

- Also there’s some gross patriarchal BS about male headship, but it’s 1891 and the Catholic Church, so I wasn’t really expecting anything else. However, I do technically agree with his statement that government shouldn’t intrude in and control the family unit, which is sort of libertarianism, I guess? It’s libertarianism but with the perception as the family as the unit of society rather than the individual. Even then, Pope Leo concedes that a family in dire need that cannot be provided for in any other way may have no other option than relying on public aid, and the government may also have to step in if family members are depriving each other of natural rights.

There’s still some interesting arguments against socialism, though:

- “They [socialists] would deprive him [the wage-earner] of the liberty of disposing of his wages, and thereby of all hope and possibility of increasing his resources and bettering his life.” In other words, capitalism allows people to be rewarded for their hard work, while socialism provides no motivation for people to work at all (since they’d all get the same resources/quality of life regardless of their work). Thus, why should people work at all under socialism?

- I don’t really follow his logic on this one as much, but Pope Leo also talks about how humans and animals are fundamentally different (which I agree with), and from there concludes that while all living creatures can possess things temporarily, it is a uniquely human right to possess things permanently. This raises some interesting questions for me: How do animals possess things, if they do so at all? Does my dog (who, interestingly enough, is named Leo) possess his own food and toys, or are they possessed by the humans that care for him and allotted for him to use? Perhaps this is the distinction between wild and domestic animals-- wild animals are able to “own” their things without having humans control them. Surely there must be some example of an animal in the wild that keeps something for years/its entire lifespan-- perhaps a nest or other type of habitat. Does a bear own the cave that it sleeps in? Would the community of animals that live in the Amazon rainforest own the forest, thus making human exploitation of it theft? Why would Pope Leo say that only humans can possess things permanently?

- “Man proceeds the State, and possesses, prior to the formation of any State, the right of providing for the substance of his body.” I like this one-- I personally believe in inherent human rights that are given to us by God, and even many atheists would likely agree with the principle of “certain unalienable rights,” as the American Declaration of Independence phrases it, even if they don’t necessarily believe they come from a Creator. These rights are guaranteed by a well-functioning and ethical state, but they are not PROVIDED by the state. However, one could easily make a counter-argument that a socialist state would be necessary in order to truly guarantee these rights.

- “Is it just that the fruit of a man’s own sweat and labor should be possessed and enjoyed by anyone else?” On the surface level, I’d say no. But the thing about capitalism in our modern society is that, as Pope Leo mentions earlier, these “fruits of labor” ARE being enjoyed by the megarich. You could argue that this is actually another way of saying that the workers should own, maybe not the means of production, but certainly the results of production.

All of this is even more interesting in light of the fact that 1891 and 2022 are very different times, and Pope Francis has been pretty critical of capitalism for several years now as far as I’m aware-- whether or not he’s actually socialist is up for debate. People have a lot of arguments for one or the other, but unless Pope Francis actually comes out and says straight-up that he’s a socialist I would be careful in labeling him as one. You can be highly critical of capitalism and still not necessarily socialist, which is how I would describe my current economic leanings.

I’d actually be super interested in hearing some commentary and POLITE discourse from both capitalists and socialists on this post, so long as it’s kept civil.

#rerum novarum #catholic social teaching #christian democracy #capitalism #socialism

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yappix · 1 month

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I should really be sleeping but I need to say this before cause I've been thinking about it for a while

But dream stans (using that as a cache all for dteam+ stans btw) have been forced to mature so much because of all the controversy

Meanwhile sbi people (cache all for the UK group) have been allowed to stay childish and immature and it shows

Especially here on tumblr, after some initial panic people sit down and debate and discuss and bring up high level concepts like cognitive dissonance and we carefully trace back the information we know to try and reach the most logical conclusion all while being aware of our own biases

Au contraire, sbi people use everything as an own and an excuse to say fuck the dteam not realizing that they're doing what they think dream stans do. They're the people who let their cc's get away with genuinely heinous things but see them as they can do no wrong because they're not Dream

In the business class I had to take last semester as a part of my program my prof kept bringing up logical fallacies and it's insane how much it applies to Dream and his treatment

Mind you this is a college course. We debate college level concepts, and dream stans tend to run a bit older and this is probably why.

I meam I've seen discussion of intersectionality, purity culture, smear campaigns and alt right rhetoric (the discussion of the last one, no one actually spouting any here) and it all relates to the gogcident. And that's not even touching on the SA itself, or rather the usage of the word SA

All this because of how our morals are called into question so often. It infuriates me how it's a borderline requirement to be here, that you have to be open to these sorts of discussions because of how often these three get dragged. To have fun it feels like you need this baseline of understanding or else it's just drummy ache after drummy ache after drummy ache. It doesn't stop them, but it does help soothe them and make them go away faster

What makes it worse is sbi stans don't have to go through any of this and have the audacity to call us the crazy stans. Meanwhile they're allowed to stay completely ignorant to the topics we discuss here and in fact cosplay as voices of reason

They stand on their moral high horses and tell us we don't deserve to be here and yet they don't question their own selves or their own cc's cause they don't see a need to.

Sorry this is just a thought I've had rolling around for so long atp, probably at least a year but it's once again relevant

-jay

this is very well-said. i haven’t been in the fandom as long as most of my mutuals so i haven’t experienced all of the controversies, and thankfully i never made a sfw/main account on twitter so i was generally able to avoid pretty much everyone outside of that small nsfw subsection. but from everything i have seen, i agree.

moreover, the part where you said “to have fun it feels like you need to have this baseline of understanding” is sooo true. if i’m honest i do think a big part of it is maturity; younger stans not only don’t normally have knowledge surrounding those complex concepts because they aren’t taught in grade school, but they’re also more susceptible to fall into black-and-white thinking, following the opinions they see from other people, being less able to expand their thinking past the buzzwords and look at the bigger picture, etc. and people use that to their advantage specifically because they’ve demonized dteam in their heads and will use anything they can to spread that rhetoric.

i see less actual nuanced discussion on twitter, and i was shocked when i came to tumblr and saw people discussing intersectionality and other concepts like it. specific to intersectionality, i’ve never talked about it outside of university classes because most people don’t know what it is, and don’t understand the way it’s intertwined into every societal structure. in some ways, it’s reassuring to know that there are so many people in the fandom who are so aware and so knowledgeable, but in other ways, i agree; it’s upsetting that we as a fandom so often need to be aware of these concepts because of the way people are treated. not only cc’s like dteam, but their fans, too.

and yeah, i see what you mean about needing to mature faster. the way i’m thinking about it, it’s like: a younger fan joins the fandom, another situation/controversy happens, and they either formulate their opinions based on the opinions they see from other people and decide it’s not worth it to stay/feel negatively toward dteam, or they’re forced to consider large complex factors that they aren’t familiar with and normally wouldn’t ever think about, because they want to stay in the fandom without feeling like they’re supporting someone bad. and in considering these complex aspects, they’re introduced to harsh realities. and then it just keeps happening over and over and they’re exposed to more and more.

i think it’s great that so many of us are so aware, but yeah, it shouldn’t be a fandom for minecraft youtubers that forces young people to constantly consider those harsh realities. i think the nature of the arguments against dteam play a part too. people who dislike them feel very strongly about it and are very firm in their opinions/beliefs, and in order to explain that a rich, powerful, white man actually was falsely accused of grooming, you need to look at the situation from a million different angles and ‘prove yourself’ as someone who’s thinking analytically and logically, and not just blindly supporting your ‘fav’. it’s impossible to have conversations with people who hate and demonize dteam because they refuse to look at anything below surface-level, so we’re forced to do it for them while also doing it for ourselves.

#pixspeaks #discourse

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hieithere · 3 months

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Written by Scottpilgrimage/Wondrousfairy:

"Your sister is a c*nt

Believe me, I know. In all the years I’ve been reading your emails and listening to your phone calls, the one thing we can definitively agree upon is that. I know your family messed you both up, but it’s never so evident as when I’m listening to your sister monologue about whatever it is she knows better than everyone else in that moment. She’s smart, I’ll give her that, maybe even smarter than me. There’s this quote I love but can only half remember… I think it was written by a critic about Susan Sontag, something to the effect that she wears her learning like armor. That is the epitome of your sister. She’s very well read, sharp as knives, controlling, manipulative and will fight to the death to defend her ego, using every buzzword and bit of rhetoric she’s learned from a book as ammo, all twisted up to fit her case against you, or whomever, perfectly. In some ways I feel we are kindred spirits. I know she’s the reason I was able to make it so far with you.

There’s that well-worn theory in psychology that we emulate problematic relationships from our past in our current relationships. It’s a subconscious effort to mend the old wounds by making the current messed up dynamic a success when the first time it wasn’t. The second time doesn't work, then there’s the third, fourth, fifth and trillionth time around. It goes without saying, it’s never a success, not when you’re choosing the same wacko personality archetypes over and over. Homo sapiens are a dumb animal. That’s why you’re always choosing the Benevolent Dictator types to get cozy with. It’s not just sister, there’s some of your mom and dad in me, too, but sister you loved the most, so she hurts the worst.

She liked me first. That is such a wild twist in our story. She wrote me fangirling when I first started getting noticed. I have to commend her for her good sense of music and being on the cutting edge of taste making. That’s part of her armor, of course. She wrote to me and that’s when I saw you on her social media and started “watching” you in the most innocent way possible. Then by some crazy miracle, five years later you moved into a house five blocks away from me and I saw you on the Q train after I had been reading your blog for two years while you were traveling. WT actual F? That is the definition of Sign and Wonders.

Once you connected all the dots between us you were kind of on board with the miracle theory, too. You’re usually more logical than that but you’re also an artist so you like to try on all the ideas and give them a chance to convince you. There were too many crazy coincidences to ignore, so you began to engage with the possibility of “magic.” Before you realized that was all rubbish you were already waist deep in quicksand.

Your sister was your closet confidant at the time. I read all those text messages, hundreds, talking about nothing, consoling each other on a bad day, bearing witness to the mundanity of life, just being there for each other. It was very sweet but also cut me deeply. I hated that I didn’t have that with anyone. I hated that I didn’t have that with you. She “knew” me so you felt you could confide in her all the crazy stuff that was happening between us. Maybe you could laugh about it and she would give you some of that sage advice she always liked to dole out.

It was like that, at first, then she started turning on you, blaming you, questioning the reliability of your perceptions. She used my status and career as a reason why none of this could be happening, why would I risk it? This is one of my greatest assets in my war with you. We all know after the Me Too movement that people will blindly support successful men based on nothing but having liked something they made once. As was the case with your sister and me. She took my side. Most people do.

I hate throwing around the term “narcissist” because it’s such a cliché now for the every man, to label someone who gave them a hard time as a narcissist and to discredit their life from beginning to finish; they were wrong you were right, case closed… But your sis may actually have a little bit of the real-life narc in her.

She didn’t want to hear what you were saying about me for two major reasons; 1. It was a wild situation and, if true, was stealing her airtime by taking precedence over her chatter about more pedestrian grievances that she was always able to whip up into something monumental through her hysterics. 2. Even though you were largely unaware, she was always comparing herself to you (in strictly superficial ways because she didn’t consider you smart) and this particular situation was triggering something deeply unsettling inside her. Her ego couldn’t face a loss on any level. She had already tried to capture my attention, and if you now had it that was a defeat in her eyes. She began to undermine every thought you shared with her.

She never gave what was happening to you any credence until she saw some views from your long-lost stepbrother on her LinkedIn account. Once she could plausibly turn the narrative around to be about her, she went full on. She called you on Christmas eve after having no contact for two years and explained her theory that your brother was stalking you because he was also stalking her. Your brother was responsible for the decade’s worth of violent poems and text messages saying he wants to “feel you before this is over.” Ha! Hahahaha. Sorry to giggle. She also suggested that maybe your father who you hadn’t spoken to in 20 years was behind it (was he also a poet?). None of it explained all the irl stuff that had happened between you and I but she was happy to overlook that along with everything else you had told her in service of her contrived narrative that put the focus back on her.

Ugh. I get so emphatic about your story with sis because I can so relate. The details aren’t exact, but my brother is a total jerk, and he uses my image and status to make money at my expense. It’s gross but I’m too much of a wimp to tell him off. He lives right next door to me, and I’d rather just pretend everything is cool, even though I hate him. Anyway, TMI, just wanted you to know I can relate. Siblings are just another relationship you can file into the unwanted category."

#credit to scottpilgrimage/wondrousfairy #latest manifesto from the guy i mentioned

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radkindoffeminist · 2 years

Note

Hey, I was just wondering what your position on the LGBTQ+ community is. I will do my best to keep an open mind and accepting. I'm honestly just curious.

The biggest problem, I think, is saying that we are all part of one big community when our goals are so vastly different. I understand why we are one due to history but that was different times with different goals. I support the LGB Alliance and separating sexuality from gender so that we can all focus on our own issues. I’ll talk more about that in a bit. But, more or less, I think the community should be split into three: LGB, Asexuals, and Trans/NB/gender stuff.

LGB people have been fighting for their rights for decades. They are just trying to normalise the idea of being with someone of the same sex as well as educating people on safe gay sex, getting legal protections against discrimination, same-sex marriage, etc. Their goals are simple but they are constantly talked over by the gender crowd and many of them are actively homophobic, calling gay men and lesbians who don’t want to date trans people transphobic, genital fetishists, and straight up disgusting (receipts on @tra-receipts). The amount of conversion therapy rhetoric I’ve seen twisted into being something progressive is honestly disgusting. And yet LGB people are expected to not only put up with that, but also believe that these people are our allies and we are stronger together and that it’s the cishets trying to tear us apart rather than the rampant homophobia within the TQ+ community which goes unchecked and when mentioned people describe it as a ‘small minority’ as a way to diminish it (because it’s not just a handful of people -there’s a lot of them) as if that makes any level of homophobia in the community acceptable. The LGB Alliance was set up so we have the space to fight for our own rights and we deserve to have that. If trans people can have trans specific charities and organisations, why is it wrong for us to have ours? Why are LGB people the only ones expected to compromise in order to keep the community together?

Next up is asexuals. A very small part of the community but I felt the need to mention them specifically because it doesn’t quite fit in anywhere else. I think that there are many people out there who are asexual (which to me means no sexual attraction and hence no interest in sex with anyone. I understand that there are people who are like ‘I am asexual but I love sex. I’m just not sexually attracted to my partner’ which is just… weird. If you want to have sex with someone, you experience sexual attraction to them?) and there are many radfems who think that this can only be the result of trauma, medical conditions, or medication side effects but I just disagree. I know a couple of asexual people and don’t have any interest in sex and there’s nothing wrong with that -that’s just how they are. Now here’s the thing: asexuals shouldn’t be part of the LGB because, despite being about sexuality, the goals of accepting people who aren’t interested in sex and those who are attracted to the same sex are different. Do they cross over somewhat? Probably, like many issues do but I’m not very educated on what specific asexual issues are other than lacking education making people not know that they can simply not have an interest in sex. Do asexuals deserve spaces to talk about their issues and being accepted and coming to terms with their sexuality? Absolutely! But I just don’t think that the right spaces for this is in LGB spaces because they’re such different things.

And then lastly we have trans and NB or TQ+. I have too many opinions on this topic and could go on for hours so I will give you a rundown of it and you are free to ask any follow up questions: the TQ+ is a homophobic and misogynistic movement which is reliant on progressive sounding language, slogans stolen from other movements, and reasonings/logic used by other movements (think trans women have been denied their womanhood like black women have; being gay was once seen as weird/immoral/wrong like being trans is; etc) in order to support themselves. They have accepted and continued to spread homophobia and conversion therapy rhetoric under the guise of standing against transphobia and daring to call them out on it gets you labelled a transphobe or told that only ‘a few’ people say this so we shouldn’t take this as representative of the entire community (despite almost never being called out on it and the rhetoric being widely repeated). There are so many people, especially trans women, who reduce womanhood down to a set of misogynistic stereotypes and ignore so much of the oppression surrounding women, especially as much relates directly back to being of a certain sex and reminding people that sex-based oppression exists is actually transphobic because everything is gender based. Don’t even get me started on the trans women who thing their digestive issues and cramps from HRT is actually a pseudo-period. Despite constantly denying it, so much of what gender is is seeped in stereotypes and no one can ever coherently define what it means to be a man, woman, NB, whatever other than using circular reasoning, stereotypes, debunked brain sex, or calling it a ‘feeling’. So many lies are spread around about trans people and the community and they are so harmful for so many people but no one seems to care: the average lifespan isn’t 30, the murder rate is lower than the general population, HRT but puberty blockers especially come with side effects and aren’t simply perfectly safe, there is no treatment which is 100% effective and HRT is no different in that regard and so many other things. Then there’s the cult like behaviours they exhibit which includes attacking detransitioners for making them look bad and for ‘faking’ what was wrong with them rather than daring to consider the idea that HRT is not 100% effective at treating dysphoria or even why someone might have considered lying to doctors for years in order to access HRT and why their lies were able to get them so far. And this is all before talking about the fundamental issue of trans activism: no amount of body issues (because what is dysphoria other than a severe body issue?) or hormones or simply believing that you are is ever going to make you into the opposite gender/sex or allow you to really experience what they have to. No amount of changing everything about your body is going to remove the male privileges or female socialisation that you grew up with, even if people treat you differently now.

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dontbipanicjonsa · 3 years

Text

Been thinking about Dark!D*ny and

I think for me, it comes down to two things:

The utter hypocrisy re: her supposed abolitionist ways

The escalation of her power and the destruction she wreaks

Because I can't really fault her for smothering Drogo. I can't really fault her for letting Viserys die. I can't really fault her for murdering the shit out of Kraznys. I can't fault her for freeing slaves (as if). I can't even fault her for wanting revenge.

Let me explain-

I think if we compare the capture of the Lhazareen and the capture of Meereen, it paints a very clear picture of where D*ny is headed.

The Lhazareen

Ok. First, the whole 'D*ny has no power' argument has to stop. She's the khaleesi. Her husband is the khal. Of course she has power.

I'm NOT saying Drogo isn't absolutely monstrous to her. I'm not saying she chose to marry him. I'm not commenting on their relationship at all.

In a patriarchy, (upper class) women gain property/power/control over others in exchange for sexual/reproductive service. So D*ny, simply by virtue of being the khal's wife, or simply because she's pregnant with his kid (neither of which were her choice) has power.

For comparison, Cersei, who is abused by her husband, the king, still derives power from her position as Queen and mother of the princes/princess. See what I mean?

?? Drogo decides they're gonna sail to Westeros and gives his rousing speech because D*ny was almost assassinated. The attack on the Lhazareen was done in service of D*ny's conquest of Westeros. Let's repeat.

The Lhazareen were attacked to further D*ny's interests.

No, it wasn't for Rhaego, he's a fucking foetus he doesn't HAVE interests. It's not for Drogo, he doesn't give two shits about Westeros. IT"S FOR D*NY. And that is her 'power' in action. Her power, that she derives through her husband, because PatRiarChy. But power.

And you know what? Sure. It's fine. She didn't know what a bloodbath it was going to be. That's not her fault. And yeah, she IS ready to accept the bloodshed as necessary collateral. That is...a bit more questionable. But she does try to help some women.

Does she only help them because she can see their suffering? Probably. There's plenty of suffering not in her direct line of sight that she allows. But ok. Sure. It's not her job to save everyone (nevermind that they're suffering to further her interests).

The whole 'save them by marrying them to their rapists' thing makes me more sad than enraged. It's tragic. It's D*ny, making women marry their rapists in the same book where she married her rapist...thinking she's ok, thinking they would be ok too. It's the cycle of abuse in motion, right before our eyes.

This is an explanation I accept. All that bullshit about how powerless D*ny is? Pls. Women and children are being enslaved right there on the same page, so D*ny can win the IT, and she's powerless ?? stfu

Ok. I get it. She's not powerless, but how far does her power extend? COULD she have gotten away with getting all the newly enslaved Lhazareen freed? We'll never know. Does that absolve her?

Slaves, Dany thought. Khal Drogo would drive them downriver to one of the towns on Slaver's Bay. She wanted to cry, but she told herself that she must be strong. This is war, this is what it looks like, this is the price of the Iron Throne.

NO.

This- the capture and enslavement of the Lhazareen people- is a direct consequence of Viserys' ambitions, which is a torch that D*ny has now willingly taken up. THAT ^^^ is a price she's willing to pay, or rather- make others pay.

Buuuut it's fine. She's inexperienced, and her power is certainly limited, and hey she tried. Sure. Moving on.

Meereen

(TW: mentions of rape)

Fast forward four books and D*ny is approximately 100x times more powerful than she was in the Lhazareen scene. Let's see how she does now-

A boy came, younger than Dany, slight and scarred, dressed up in a frayed grey tokar trailing silver fringe. His voice broke when he told of how two of his father's household slaves had risen up the night the gate broke. One had slain his father, the other his elder brother. Both had raped his mother before killing her as well. The boy had escaped with no more than the scar upon his face, but one of the murderers was still living in his father's house, and the other had joined the queen's soldiers as one of the Mother's Men. He wanted them both hanged.

I am queen over a city built on dust and death. Dany had no choice but to deny him. She had declared a blanket pardon for all crimes committed during the sack. Nor would she punish slaves for rising up against their masters.

xxx

A former slave came, to accuse a certain noble of the Zhak. The man had recently taken to wife a freedwoman who had been the noble's bedwarmer before the city fell. The noble had taken her maidenhood, used her for his pleasure, and gotten her with child. Her new husband wanted the noble gelded for the crime of rape, and he wanted a purse of gold as well, to pay him for raising the noble's bastard as his own. Dany granted him the gold, but not the gelding. "When he lay with her, your wife was his property, to do with as he would. By law, there was no rape." Her decision did not please him, she could see, but if she gelded every man who ever forced a bedslave, she would soon rule a city of eunuchs.

SO anyway how is D*ny rating on the 'tried to prevent rape' scale?

She even went so far as to summon Irri, hoping her caresses might help ease her way to rest, but after a short while she pushed the Dothraki girl away. Irri was sweet and soft and willing, but she was not Daario.

Oh look she's in the negative :/

How's she doing on the slavery front? She's got all the power now...

"Your slave Missandei." Jhiqui had a taper in her hand.

"My servant. I have no slaves." Dany did not understand. "Why does she weep?"

xxx

There was no slavery in the free city of Pentos. Nonetheless, they were slaves.

...

D*enerys spends five books gaining power. How does this affect the condition of her people? Is the condition of the Meereenese better than the condition of the Lhazareen had been, all the way back in the first book? No. It's worse.

People have still been raped. People have still been enslaved/remained enslaved. People have starved. People have been brutally murdered. And at a much larger scale than book 1.

This is what it comes down to. D*ny is a villain because her climb to power is characterized by death and destruction, always. Isn't that the trademark of a villain?

D*ny is a girl who truly believes in her own PR, but when you look at her words and actions-

"The Good Master has said that these eunuchs cannot be tempted with coin or flesh," Dany told the girl, "but if some enemy of mine should offer them freedom for betraying me . . ."

"They would kill him out of hand and bring her his head, tell her that," the slaver answered. "Other slaves may steal and hoard up silver in hopes of buying freedom, but an Unsullied would not take it if the little mare offered it as a gift. They have no life outside their duty. They are soldiers, and that is all."

xxx

"No," she pleaded. "Save him, and I will free you, I swear it. You must know a way … some magic, some …"

...how much of her actions are truly altruistic? How much is performative?

Despite her anti-slavery rhetoric, D*ny consistently benefits from slavery- and slavery flourishes.

Despite her 'oh no I don't wanna bring death and destruction anywhere', her actions continue to bring exactly that- and it never stops her from doing it all over again the next time.

Not to dismiss her internal struggle. But really. Being upset at the thought that you might be a bad person doesn't make you a good person. For that matter, being worried if you're going mad or not...doesn't mean you're not (not that I'm saying she is). Seriously, where did that logic even come from? Ultimately, her internal struggle makes her a more compelling character, sure, but it doesn't actually make her a better person.

The point is, her story is absolutely rooted in hypocrisy. Her destructiveness only escalates with her power. Her so-called good intentions never pan out- because her own actions undermine them. And because she has the self-awareness of a pigeon, she never gets better.

She IS the villain who thinks she's a hero. She isn't just a villain because she's done bad things, but because she's utterly unaware (or deliberately obtuse) of the bad things she's done, and so she's incapable of learning, and so she's only getting worse.

Take a step outside her POV and it suddenly becomes clear.

Let's recap.

D*ny has-

Wayy more power in Meereen. Less in Lhazareen

D*ny did-

Less to prevent rape in Meereen. More in Lhazareen

D*ny benefitted from-

Slavery in Meereen. Slavery in Lhazareen

D*ny was-

A slaver in Meereen. A slaver in Lhazareen

D*ny wreaked-

Death and destruction in Meereen. Death and destruction in Lhazareen.

D*ny, riding high on her power-

Ordered the murder of children. And much more.

Power is NOT good for D*ny.

#dark!dany #anti daenerys targaryen #d**y stans do NOT interact #yea I censored her name twice just to be sure

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itsapeterthing · 3 years

Text

My Hero || Peter Parker

pairing: civilian!peter x avenger!reader

summary: when your boyfriend, peter, gets invited to the stark gala for his internship, you have to try to make it through the night without him finding out that you’re secretly an avenger

a/n: peter is in college here! finally another oneshot for our boy petey- reblogs and replies are super appreciated!

word count: 3.9k

warnings: reader has spidey’s enhanced senses, there’s a gun, fluff

masterlist || request || taglist

Pushing open the door of the building you had just had class in, your eyes immediately met those of your boyfriend sitting on the bench waiting for you outside. As soon as you saw him a smile reached across his face and he pushed himself out of his seat, making his way over to you.

“Hey, Pete-”

“- So I don’t know how I got one of these-” Peter started rambling, walking beside you. “They handed it to me and in my head I was like ‘this has to be a mistake’ you know? ‘Cause there’s no way I would get invited-”

“Woah, Peter, slow down!” You laughed, turning to your boyfriend. “What are you talking about?”

Realizing that he hadn’t even told you what he was going on about, Peter stopped and began shoving his hands through his pockets. When you stopped your pace in front of him, you watched as Peter pulled an envelope out of his pocket.

“What’s that for?” You asked.

A smile spread across his face once again as he pulled the invitation out of the envelope.

You swore you felt your heart drop to your stomach when you saw Stark Industry’s logo printed on the piece of paper.

“It’s for this party thing-”

“-Gala.” You corrected him.

“Yeah!” He said. “Gala! It’s for this gala that Mr. Stark is hosting and you know- at first I didn’t think I could be invited, but it has my name and everything.”

You began to tap your feet as he explained this all to you, feeling your anxiousness grow.

“So, are you going to go?” You asked, praying that he wouldn’t say the answer that you were sure he was going to give.

“Why wouldn’t I?” He asked.

You knew it was a rhetorical question. At least in Peter’s mind there wasn’t a logical reason as to why a 19 year-old intern for Stark Industries shouldn’t go to a Gala- it could open so many doors for him and it was a rare honor- but you knew things that Peter didn’t. To be more exact, he didn't know the things you were keeping a secret from him.

You had known about the Gala before Peter had even mentioned it because you had been invited yourself, not as a Stark intern, but as an Avenger. You had only found out you had abilities a few months ago when you had been bitten by a radioactive spider. Later you had been discovered by the group, but managed to have your identity remain a secret.

It’s not that you didn’t trust Peter enough to tell him- you were going to tell him- just not yet. You needed more time.

This Gala invitation felt like Tony Stark was purposefully trying to ruin your life, despite the fact that you had never informed him- or any of the Avengers for that matter- that you and Peter Parker, his intern, were dating.

“Of course I’m gonna go!” He said. “Mr. Stark invited me. This is big for me, Y/n. And... guess what?”

“What?” You asked, not particularly enjoying where this conversation was headed.

“I have a plus one.” Peter said.

Of course he did.

“Oh that’s awesome, Pete!” You smiled, beginning to walk in the opposite direction once again. “I’m sure May would love to go!”

Jogging to catch up with you, Peter grabbed hold of your arm, pulling you back.

“May?” He asked, furrowing his eyebrows. “Why would I ask May? I want you to go with me.”

Looking at your boyfriend, you felt so guilty for lying to him. He was the sweetest person you had ever met and as he smiled at you, hopeful to have you on his arm at tonight’s event, you couldn’t find it in you to say no to him.

“I’d love to go, Peter.” You said. “Pick me up at seven?”

“Yeah- wait.” Peter said quirking his eyebrows again. “How did you know it was tonight?”

Shit.

“Oh!” You chuckled. “I... I don’t know why I figured that. So... seven?”

Slowly nodding his head, your boyfriend nervously chuckled. “Yeah, seven.”

“Okay!” You exclaimed, leaning in to peck Peter’s cheek before pulling away. “I have to go meet my professor. See you later!”

And with that you took off in the other direction, your mind filled with worries about tonight’s event, planning ways in your head to keep your double life a secret from your boyfriend. As you did, Peter watched you walk away, still glued to his spot sensing that something just wasn’t right.

Clipping on your earrings, you heard the sound of Peter’s knuckles meeting your door, lightly knocking. Pulling the door open, your eyes met Peter’s and you smiled.

“What do you think?” You asked, gesturing at the dress you were wearing.

You watched as Peter’s jaw practically dropped and he reached out his hand for yours.

“W-woah.” He said in awe, a smiling reaching across his face as he pulled your hand, twirling you around. “You- you look so beautiful, Y/n.”

Despite the anxiety that you were feeling about the night ahead of you, you couldn't help but smile at his compliment. No matter how often he called you beautiful, you still became a smiling mess every time.

“You don’t look too bad yourself, Mr. Parker.”

He didn't. Standing in front of you, you couldn’t help but notice how much your boyfriend had gone out for the Gala tonight- adorning a a black tuxedo, his hair slicked in a way that you were sure was his Aunt’s doing.

“Since when do you have a tux lying around?” You asked, tugging on the labels of his jacket.

“I rented it a few hours ago. May picked it out.” He told you, resting his hands on your waist. “D-does it look okay? I thought it might look better than the old suit at-”

Pulling on the lapels once more to bring his lips to yours, you kissed him, quickly shutting him up as he pulled you closer, deepening the kiss. Smiling and pulling away you straightened out his jacket.

“You look amazing, baby.” You whispered. “Now let’s get going shall we, Mr. Parker?”

“We shall.”

Stepping out of the cab and onto the sidewalk outside of the museum where the Gala was being held, the thoughts that you had been pushing aside for the last nine hours suddenly came to the surface as your heart began to race in your chest.

How were you going to keep everything a secret? You hadn’t even told the other members of your group that you would be attending with your boyfriend... your boyfriend who didn’t know that you had super-human abilities or that you were one of them.

As Peter laced his fingers with yours, squeezing tightly before guiding you towards the building, you gave him a soft smile while all you could do in your head was attempt to haphazardly form a plan.

Stepping inside the foyer of the museum, it was clear that no expense was spared for the night. The room was filled with people you didn’t recognize, waiters with flutes on trays weaving through the crowd. The sound of the orchestra playing mixed with the sounds of the hundreds of conversations around you.

It was times like these that you weren’t so glad to have your abilities, the light of the chandelier glowing brighter in your eyes as your enhanced hearing tuned in on ten conversations around you.

Unlacing your fingers from your boyfriend’s, you pulled him closer.

“I’m going to go find the bathroom, okay?” You told him. “I’ll be back.”

“Already?” He asked. “Do you want me to wait outside or-”

“No!” You exclaimed a bit too excitedly before lowering your voice. “I’ll find you.”

Before he could say anything else, you pushed through the crowd of people, leaving the foyer of the museum to find an empty hallway. When you finally pushed through your last person, reaching an empty exhibit within the museum, you slumped against the all.

Why did you think this was a good idea? Although Peter would have initially been upset with you declining his invitation and Tony Stark would no doubt find it suspicious that you cancelled so last minute on his end, at least you would be spared from the nervousness you were feeling now as your hands became clammy and the air felt as though it grew thicker by the second.

“Y/n?” You heard a familiar voice ask.

Pulling yourself away from the wall and glancing over your shoulder, you looked up to see Natasha Romanoff standing in the doorway of the exhibit.

“Sorry,” You said, playing with one of the bracelets adorning your wrist. “I can leave if I shouldn’t-”

“It’s okay, kid.” She said, smiling. “I didn’t see you come in.”

“Yeah,” You said, chuckling. “That’s because I came with my boyfriend.”

Tilting her head, she smiled.

“I didn’t know you were seeing anyone. So your boyfriend came with you?”

Although you knew what she meant, you shook her head.

“Nope,” You told her, popping the p. “I came with my boyfriend. He... he’s an intern for Stark. He thinks I’m here as his plus one.”

“... But you’re an Avenger?” She said.

“He uh.. he doesn’t know that.”

You felt guilty finally saying it out loud, confessing to your mentor that you had been lying to your boyfriend about not only having super-human abilities, but about being a part of the Avengers, risking your life to save others almost weekly.

Rather than lecturing you, she made her way over to you, leaning against the wall beside you.

“I can understand that.” Natasha said before sighing. “But... I also understand what it’s like to live a double life, Y/n. You can’t keep living like this. It’ll make you sick and at some point you’ll lose yourself in the two.”

“But how can I tell him?” You asked, turning to face her. “I’ve been lying to him for so long and he’s just so sweet, Nat. He’d be so worried about me if he knew.”

“You said he’s nice, right?” She asked, smiling as you nodded. “Then tell him. He’ll understand and if he doesn’t... at least you’ll feel better because right now you look like shit.”

Scoffing at her insult you elbowed her. “Thanks, Nat.”

Patting your back and shoving herself off of the wall, she laughed. “What am I if not honest?”

Before you could throw her another snarky comment, however, you watched as she strolled out of the exhibit, heading back into the Gala.

Letting her advice sit with you, you knew that she was right. You had never been as stressed as you were hiding your identity from your boyfriend. You were actually less anxious fighting bad guys than when he would go to grab a pencil from your drawer where you kept your web shooters when the two of you were studying.

You had to tell him- if not for your sake at least his own.

You were afraid to tell him, but Nat was right.

He deserved to know. He was your boyfriend and one of the most kind, honest and understanding men you had ever met- he deserved to know what his girlfriend was up to every night and even the danger he was putting himself in by choosing to be yours.

You decided then that you were going to tell him... except not tonight. Tonight was his night- the night where he finally felt like an appreciated member of Tony Stark’s staff- and he didn’t deserve your limelight ruining it.

Straightening the dress you were wearing, you made your way out of the exhibit and back into the expansive foyer of the museum. Tuning in your hearing, you looked for your boyfriend, but when you heard his voice muffled with Tony Stark’s... it was too late to turn around.

“Y/n!” You heard Peter call. “I’m over here!”

Taking a deep breath, you waved back to your boyfriend, forcing a wide smile onto your face. Striding over to Peter, your eyes met Tony’s whose quickly went wide as he pieced together the situation in front of him.

Before he could open his mouth, however, you extended your hand to him.

“Mr. Stark!” You exclaimed. “It’s so nice to meet you. Peter’s told me so much about you- I’m a huge fan- really.”

Slowly taking your hand and shaking it tightly, he quirked his eyebrows, staring at you for a moment before turning back to Peter.

“Parker,” Tony said, pulling his hand away. “if I knew you had a girlfriend like her, I would have promoted you sooner.”

You felt Peter’s hand wrap around your back to rest on your waist as he smiled brightly.

“W-well thank you, Mr-”

“You know,” Tony said, cutting him off. “I just can’t get over it. She looks exactly like this girl I know. What did you say your name was again?”

You should have figured that Tony was going to give you a hard time.

“Y/n.” You told him, through gritted teeth.

“Y/n...” He said your name again, before chuckling. “God I almost feel like I’m talking to her-”

Before he even had the chance to finish his sentence, however, you heard the overwhelming sound of the glass window that spanned the length of the room shattering behind Tony. Turning your attention to the area, you watched as a large robot-like creature climbed its way into the foyer, kicking it’s legs through the remaining wall. Behind you the crowd of people began to erupt into screams as they rushed out of the doors of the museum.

“Holy shit!” You shouted, stunned by the android.

At your side you felt Peter’s hand grip yours and when you turned around to face him, you watched as he attempted to pull you in the other direction towards the door, tugging on your hand.

“Y/n, we have to get out of here!” He exclaimed.

You had hoped you had more time.

You had hoped you would be able to break it to him nicely.

But as you turned back around to see Tony Stark’s Iron Man suit forming around him and the robot stepping inside the building, you knew you were out of time.

Pulling your hand out of Peter’s, you watched as a look of betrayal washed over his face.

“I can’t Peter!” You shouted, reaching your hands behind your dress.

“What? What do you mean you can-”

“Are you in or are you out, Y/n?” You heard Tony ask.

Glancing between him and your boyfriend, the sound of the robot destroying tables echoing throughout the room, you nodded at Tony.

“I’m in.”

“What do you mean you’re in-”

Ignoring Peter, you undid the laces on the back of your dress, the fabric falling to your feet.

You were thanking yourself for choosing to wear your shorts underneath your dress right about now.

“Good.” Tony said. “Your suit’s coming in three.., two...”

Stretching your arms out, you felt as the high tech machinery of Tony Stark’s “spidey suit” for you met your skin. The material stretched across your body, covering your skin until it finally reached around your face, forming your mask.

Turning to look at your boyfriend, you saw his eyes go wide, his mouth practically dropping to the floor.

“What... Y/n-” He stumbled over his words.

Picking your dress up off the floor, you shoved it into your boyfriend’s arms.

“Peter, you need to get out of here!” You shouted over the sound of destruction in the background.

“I- I-” He continued, still glued to his spot. “You’re Spider-Woman?”

“Hey!” You heard Tony shout. “Save the Soap Opera for after we stop this thing!”

Glancing back at Tony and then to Peter, you gently shoved Peter in the direction towards the door.

“We’ll talk about this later!” You shouted, jogging backwards. “Just get out of here!”

Without turning around again to look at Peter’s face, you shot a web towards the android, flinging yourself towards it. When your web met the android’s chest you landed a swift kick to its head before shooting another web, spinning yourself around the android’s body.

“Shit!” You shouted. “This thing’s strong! Can someone help me out?”

As soon as you asked, you watched as a familiar shield came straight for the android’s head, dodging out of the way at the last second, it collided with its face, stopping the animatronic from moving its arms long enough for you to swing yourself around them, webbing them down at its sides.

“Thank you!”

As Tony continued to blast at its face, trying to get a reading on what this creature was, you shot a web towards its waist, swinging yourself around its body once again.

“Taking out the legs, Y/n?” You heard Cap’s voice ask through the earpiece of your suit.

Huffing and Puffing, you replied. “That’s the plan!”

Pulling the webs that you had spun around the android’s knees tighter, you groaned, feeling the strain on your muscles. Just as you were about to lose your grip, the webs slipping from your fingers, both Steve’s shield and the rays from Tony’s palms hit the back of the android’s knees, knocking it onto the floor. Jumping off of the being at the last second, you landed on your knees.

Pushing yourself onto your feet, you heard the clicking sound of a door within the android’s torso opening. When you looked up, your eyes were met with a man who had a gun raised in his hand... pointed at you.

“Hey!” You called shakily, raising your hands. “We can talk this out.”

“Talk this out?” The man said. “I spent two years working on this-”

Before he could say another word, however, the loud clang of a platter meeting the back of the man's head rang throughout the room. When he fell to the ground, your eye’s met Peter’s who stood behind him, the silver tray in his hand.

“Peter?” You asked, tapping the side of your neck so your mask would retract from your face.

Dropping the tray to the floor, he doubled over, hands on his knees.

“That was...” He said huffing. “... so... cool!”

Rushing over to Peter’s side, stepping over the unconscious man’s body, you wrapped your arms around your boyfriend’s back, listening as he wheezed. Knowing his aunt well enough to know that she wouldn’t let Peter leave the house without his inhaler, you slipped your hands into his pant pocket, pulling out the device and placing it in his hands.

As he inhaled a quick two puffs, his breathing slowly evening out as his airways opened up, you and him looked up to find the attention of the rest of the team on the both of you.

“Well,” Nat said breaking the silence, staring at the unconscious man on the floor in front of you. “I guess love really does conquer all.”

Hearing a chuckle settle over the group surrounding you, the next person to speak was Steve, stepping in front of Peter and reaching his hand out for him to shake.

Glancing between Cap’s hand and face, Peter straightened up, clearing his throat.

“Oh, wow.” Peter said in awe, shaking his hand dramatically. “M- Mr. Captain America, sir, I’m a huge fan.”

Smiling, Steve laid his hand on his shoulder.

“I can say the same about you, kid.” He said. “You gotta stand up for your girl- no matter how strong and capable she may be... I would know.”

Without saying another word, leaving Peter starstruck in his spot beside you, Steve walked away towards Natasha. Tony was the last to come up to the two of you.

“Well, Parker,” He said, tapping his wrist so that his suit retracted from around his body. “I gotta say- I’m impressed. I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“T- thank you, Mr. Stark.” Peter said nervously, scratching the back of his neck.

“I guess we can consider making you a paid intern now.” Tony said. “You saved an Avenger and now you get paid minimum wage- sound fair?”

Nodding his head smiling, Peter took Tony’s hand in his, shaking it. “Yes! Thank you, sir. You won’t regret it!”

“I know I won’t.” He said, pulling his hand back and stepping away from him. “And Peter?”

“Yes?”

“Be nice to her.” Tony said finally shooting you a wink before heading towards the rest of the group standing over the unconscious man.

Glancing down at your hands, fiddling with your fingers, you looked up at Peter.

“I’m so sorry for not telling you, Pete.” You said, taking a deep breath. “I was just so scared. At first I didn’t even know what was going on with me and then the Avengers found me and my life just got so crazy, but you always treated me like I was just me... I didn’t want that to change and I.... I didn’t want you to leave me once you found out.”

Taking your fidgeting hands in his, he squeezed tightly.

“You thought I would leave you?” Peter asked.

You nodded.

“Y/n, I- I would never leave you.” Peter said seriously. “Yeah, it’s super cool that my girlfriend’s Sider-Woman and you look... like... really hot... in that suit-”

“Peter.”

“But I love you.” He told you finally. “Not Spider-Woman- you.”

You weren’t able to help the smile that reached across your face as you listened to your boyfriend. You should have known that Peter would never hate you- especially not for something as cool as having super human abilities- and you almost wanted to laugh at yourself for worrying so much over it. In the end all that mattered was that Peter now knew and he chose to be with you anyway.

Taking your hands out of his, you cupped his face in your hands and pressed a light kiss to his lips before pulling away.

“Thanks for being my hero tonight, Peter.” You whispered.

Smiling, gazing at his face you couldn’t help but notice the blush that began to rise to his cheeks as he nervously scratched the back of his neck.

“Oh that? That was nothing.” He chuckled.

“Hey! Love birds!” Tony shouted from across the room. “The press has gotta be here any minute- better head out unless you want your face on the front page.”

“You’ve got it, Mr. Stark!” Peter called back, waving his hand.

Waving goodbye to the members of your group one last time, you laced your fingers with Peter’s guiding him towards the door.

“Got my dress?” You asked.

Pulling your dress out from behind a nearby vase, he continued his pace handing you the bundled up gown.

“Couldn’t forget that!”

Smiling you slipped behind a wall near the entrance, pulling your gown on. Without asking you felt Peter come up behind you, lacing up the back of your dress as you tapped your wrist, your suit retracting with your touch beneath the dress.

“I don’t know about you,” Peter said, tying the laces. “But I’m-”

“Starving?” You asked, laughing.

Stepping back from tying up your gown, he laughed. “Yeah, want to go grab some post battle dinner?”

Taking his hand in yours, you couldn’t help the smile on your face. “How can I say no to that?”

#peter parker x reader #peter parker x you #peter parker x y/n #peter parker fluff #peter parker fanfiction #peter parker imagine #peter parker oneshot #peter parker blurb #peter parker drabble

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thinkingisadangerouspastime · 3 years

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Hi, first off I ship Zutara and I come in peace. I was pointed your way by a friend when I asked for people who ship kataang who are nevertheless willing to hear different views. I have lurked on blog a week and finally got up my nerve to ask how you or any other Kataang can deny that the last part of book 3 was completely Zutara but then stopped abruptly with no buildup? You can finesse tone on text so I'm not being sarcastic or bitchy, it is a serious question (1/5)

In The Southern Raiders, Katara realizes she has been wrong about Zuko. In Ember Island Players, she realizes Aang is not as mature as she thought he was, and in the finale, Katara does not care a whit that Aang is gone. I am serious and as someone who is no Aang stan but likes him, I’m actually annoyed by how little anyone cared about his disappearance. It went from “Aang’s gone!” to “Okay whatever, let’s find Iroh so he can kill Ozai.” (2/5)

Katara was all over Zuko (honestly, again not being a jerk) in the finale until for whatever reason, she wasn’t. She was giving him a pep talk about Iroh, she was going with him to Azula, she was healing him and saying he saved her not the other way around. I genuinely don’t get why this isn’t seen as romantic. I will grant you that Zuko would not have allowed Azula to kill anyone but I feel the point here was Zuko realizing his life was pointless if Katara was killed. (4/5)

And then literally at the end, Mai shows up after Zuko not talking about her at all for six episodes and declares herself Zuko’s girlfriend. And Katara kisses Aang after being annoyed with and by him arguably since The Southern Raiders. I get that Kataang “won” and I’ve made peace with that, but ... I can’t understand why Kataang shippers are okay with such a crap story. I swear on my gmom [sic] if they’d done this for [Zvtara], I’d be mad as hell. So I don’t understand, I really don’t. (5/5)

As always, I shall begin with a disclaimer: anon, you do not have to agree with this post. No one has to agree with this post, as it is strictly my own thoughts on the subject matter raised here! As per usual, I will not be putting this in the main tags - much less the Zvtara tag! - because I have basic fandom decency, lmao. If you (the general you, not anon specifically) do disagree with this post, that is totally fine, I simply ask that you are polite in expressing your disagreement (if you choose to do so at all! no one is expected to, lmao. i promise).

Alright. Formalities are out of the way!

I’ll admit I giggled a little bit when you say you lurked on my blog for a week, because I’ve actually talked about this subject numerous times in the past! I just found it funny you hadn’t stumbled across any posts about it yet, lol. So, as a heads up, know that I will be providing several links in this post since - again - this subject and related subjects have been analyzed a multitude of times before. I highly recommend reading them all! Mostly because I don’t intend to spend forever restating what’s been said over and over and over lmaooo. I will provide the resources, but it is up to each individual to take advantage of them.

To begin: your ask actually contains a few logical fallacies, anon! I do not mean this as shade or to belittle you - I fall victim to this issue all the time myself. Anyone who writes analyses or participates in debates does! Humans are imperfect and often like to cut corners to reach a conclusion. It is nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed about because - as the existence of your ask in inbox indicates - you are willing to learn more. So kudos to you, my friend!

Alright. So what logical fallacies am I talking about here? (For the record: specific definitions of logical fallacies were taken from here.)

1. Hasty Generalization.

“A hasty generalization is a general statement without sufficient evidence to support it.” Numerous claims are made in this ask that I have absolutely no doubt you believe to be true, anon, but there really isn’t any concrete evidence to support it! I will go into more detail later, of course, but let’s quickly look at one example:

“In Ember Island Players, [Katara] realizes Aang is not as mature as she thought he was…”

For the time being, I will ask but one question: from the show itself, not fanon, how do you know this?

2. Causal Fallacy

Ah, this guy. My own worst enemy, tbh! “A causal fallacy is any logical breakdown when identifying a cause,” of which there are several types. “One causal fallacy is the false cause or non causa pro causa (‘not the-cause for a cause’) fallacy, which is when you conclude about a cause without enough evidence to do so.” In your ask, you claim:

“I will grant you that Zuko would not have allowed Azula to kill anyone but I feel the point here was Zuko realizing his life was pointless if Katara was killed.”

Again, for the time being, I will ask only one question: from the show itself, not fanon, what led you to believe this statement?

“Another kind of causal fallacy is the correlational fallacy also known as cum hoc ergo propter hoc (Lat., ‘with this therefore because of this’). This fallacy happens when you mistakenly interpret two things found together as being causally related.” In your ask, you claim:

“Katara was all over Zuko (honestly, again not being a jerk) in the finale until for whatever reason, she wasn’t. She was giving him a pep talk about Iroh, she was going with him to Azula, she was healing him and saying he saved her not the other way around. I genuinely don’t get why this isn’t seen as romantic.”

I will ask one question: from the show itself, not fanon, why would you believe these are indicative of romance? (Consider the context the show is situated in, too - e.g. the war, Katara being Azula’s only available match in skill, etc.)

The reason I bring up the issue of logical fallacies is again not at all to make you feel bad, anon!! You were simply trying to express your point to me and I greatly appreciate you taking the time to do so. See, your ask actually presents a larger fandom trend:

Misconstruing fanon as canon.

What you have offered to me, anon, are fanon conclusions. To clarify: there is absolutely nothing wrong with fanon. I adore fanon interpretations (an example I have used in the past is Kuzaang - like, I don’t care that there’s no canon basis! I do what I want lmao!), but a line has to be drawn between exploring fanon interpretations and expecting everyone to take that fanon as canon. Again, anon, this is not your fault! It is not any one person’s fault, lmao. It is an issue of fandom as a whole, and all of us fall victim to it.

With that in mind, I will break down the different components of your ask. I will also do my best to be brief - as aforementioned, I and others have analyzed this issue numerous times before, lmao. To avoid confusion, it would be best to read through each or at least most links as they are provided!

Firstly, there are two posts I have made in the past that almost directly answer your overarching question here in this ask. Please read them prior to continuing, as I will occasionally reference them:

This post explains how Zvtara was not built up from TSR/EIP-onwards, and how their supposed “canon enemies to lovers arc” is a completely fanon construction.

This post explains the issue of the “canon Zvtara” rhetoric from rabid zkers (and you, anon, are absolutely NOT one, in case you were worried).

Alrighty. With that out the way, let’s get into it!

“In The Southern Raiders, Katara realizes she has been wrong about Zuko.”

Gotta start by saying that TSR is not about Zuko. TSR is, first and foremost, about Katara. Katara does not realize she was wrong about Zuko, because here’s the truth - she wasn’t wrong about him. Zuko did horrible things to the Gaang. Katara was not wrong to hold him accountable for that. What Katara does realize is that holding such rage so close to her chest is bad for her. This rage was not solely anger against Zuko, either; it was of course about Yon Rha, too, but it was also anger towards Kya and Katara herself. Essentially, TSR is where Katara realizes she has to forgive herself. Zuko is only one part of her journey (similar to Aang’s role in the episode, if a different end of the spectrum).

This post explains how TSR was fundamentally about Katara.

Additional resources about TSR:

This post explains Aang’s comments to Katara in TSR and how Katara herself recognized their validity.

This post explains why both Aang and Zuko were important to Katara in TSR.

This post is an extensive breakdown of Aang and Katara’s relationship within TSR.

“In Ember Island Players, [Katara] realizes Aang is not as mature as she thought he was…”

You provide no context for this claim, so I’m going to work with the assumption this is about their reactions to the play itself and the infamous kiss!

There is something important we must keep in mind when discussing EIP: the play they watch is literally imperialist propaganda. It is meant to demean the entire Gaang, and indeed it does exactly that. You mention Katara and Aang specifically, so I will recap what I have explained before about their depictions in EIP: Katara, an indigenous woman, is hypersexualized and portrayed as overly emotional (and thus “irrational”). This reinforces the Fire Nation sentiment that women of the Water Tribes are less intelligent and less suited for “responsibility” than Fire Nation women. Aang, a pacifist and the sole survivor of genocide who is also canonly the male character most comfortable with femininity and spirituality, is portrayed as a flighty, airheaded woman (this is a well-known imperialist tactic meant to emasculate the target, seeing as masculinity was often equated with power in fascist regimes; thus, they effectively belittled Aang before the FN audience). This reinforces the Fire Nation sentiment that the Air Nomads were foolish, weak people who deserved to die.

In other words, of course Aang and Katara were upset about how they portrayed in the play. It is understandable that tensions would be running high and consequently that mistakes (we all know the one) would be made.

This post explains how EIP belittles each member of the Gaang (and why the play is not indicative of Zvtara).

This post talks specifically about EIP and their portrayal of Aang and Katara.

Now onto the kiss. As everyone knows and no one has ever disagreed with, Aang was wrong to kiss Katara. Point blank!

But what people do misunderstand is Katara and Aang’s feelings regarding the kiss. Given your above quote, I assume you believe Aang kissing Katara supposedly made her realize that Aang wasn’t as mature as she once thought. On the surface, this seems like a logical conclusion! But digging deeper reveals… well, there’s nothing that indicates this conclusion at all. Even jumping ahead to the finale, when Zuko has doubts over Aang’s return, Katara demonstrates her faith in Aang (although of course she’s nervous - I won’t deny the obvious, lmao) as she says, “Aang won’t lose. He’s gonna come back. He has to.”

In other words, nothing in canon suggests that Katara believes Aang is immature because of what happened in EIP. She still trusts in his return, as she did even before she knew him (and arguably is more confident in him now, given the 60~ episodes of them growing closer). Furthermore, when Aang does disappear, Katara doesn’t have an outburst about how “immature” it was for him to “run away again.” The viewers know Aang didn’t run away, of course (fans who insist he did are not worth arguing with, anon - they don’t understand the show, rip), but that is a luxury the rest of the Gaang is not afforded. And yet even though Aang has vanished off the face of the planet, Katara still believes he will save the world. If anything, that signifies the utmost confidence in his skill and maturity!

To go back to the kiss itself, this post explains the true source of Katara’s conflict in turning down Aang (hint: she says it herself in the episode! you know, the whole war going on) and why the EIP kiss did not sink Kataang’s relationship.

Additional sources about EIP:

This post explains how the EIP kiss was resolved through narrative parallels.

This post explains how the EIP kiss is so often blown out of proportion.

“… and in the finale, Katara does not care a whit that Aang is gone. I am serious and as someone who is no Aang stan but likes him, I’m actually annoyed by how little anyone cared about his disappearance. It went from ‘Aang’s gone!’ to ‘Okay whatever, let’s find Iroh so he can kill Ozai.’”

As I already touched upon, Katara didn’t need a soliloquy to emphasize her connection to Aang once he disappeared. She trusts that he will return. She says so herself. I guess I just don’t understand how you got from Point A, Katara has consistent faith in Aang, to Point B, Katara and the rest of the Gaang didn’t care about Aang’s disappearance. It’s honestly a bit more like Point A to Point Z, lmao! If you would like to expand on your logic here, I would love to hear more!!

There are a few specific aspects I want to note about your rationale, though. You argue the Gaang moves from ‘Aang disappeared’ to ‘let’s find Iroh,’ but the Gaang actually went from:

1. Aang disappeared!

2. They search the entire island for him.

3. Okay, they couldn’t find him, so they track down June and have her try to find Aang.

4. June says to them, “No, I mean he’s gone gone. He doesn’t exist.” (And she clarifies to Sokka that she doesn’t mean dead, either - she means Aang has totally blinked out of their world.)

5. Only after all of this do they decide to track down Iroh.

The Gaang cares immensely about the fact that Aang is gone, and you could actually argue they waste time by trying to track him down. They don’t give up until June essentially tells them that some Spirit World shenanigans were involved. Even if you don’t think they reached that specific conclusion, I have to ask: What else were they supposed to do? They were told Aang didn’t exist! How are they supposed to fix that?

Well, they can’t. So they do the next best thing: they find Iroh, the man who knows Ozai better than anyone and is also one of the most talented firebenders in the world. In my opinion, that’s a very logical step to take.

I’ll be blunt here, lol: in my opinion, nothing of what you listed in your ask is inherently romantic.

Okay. I am going to assume you’ve read the first two posts I linked earlier (“Zvtara did not have an E-L arc” and “the ‘canon’ Zvtara of rabid zkers has issues”), because I do not intend to rehash everything they contain, lol. Consequently, I presume you realize by now that there was no canon romantic interest between Zuko and Katara.

And as I always say, just because there wasn’t a canon romance doesn’t mean people can’t take fanon routes! Of course they can! That’s the entire point of fanon! But fanon is not canon, and I am strictly referring to canon in my discussions.

You claim Katara was all over Zuko, which in itself I don’t think is an accurate assessment, because she doesn’t really do anything with Zuko outside the three points you bring up (other than the June gag, which I addressed in one of the aforementioned linked posts). So I’ll go ahead and break down each instance you provide!

1. “[Katara] was giving [Zuko] a pep talk about Iroh”

Katara asked Zuko if he was okay. She asked him if he was genuinely sorry. She reassures him that Iroh will forgive him. That’s… all. Not to diminish the significance of this conversation, but it’s not exactly an intimate, romantically-charged discussion (unless fanon-ized). But on that note, let’s tackle the canon significance of this moment!

Katara knows firsthand the challenge of forgiving Zuko. And she knows that Zuko understands how hard it was for her to forgive him (note: Katara’s anger was totally justified, and anyone who disagrees is probably a rabid Zuko stan lmao). She also recognizes that Zuko is terrified it will take Iroh the same struggle to forgive him that Katara went through. This scene is not related to romance at all. It’s about compassion. It’s about Katara and Zuko’s friendship having progressed, slowly but surely, to the point where she’s not afraid to extend empathy to him anymore (seeing as the first time, beneath Ba Sing Se, did not go so well; you know - Aang died and all). It’s about Zuko recognizing his own fallibility (and the audience recognizing how much he’s grown). He questions how he can even face his uncle after all he’s done to the man, which is a far cry from his entitled attitude in TSR, where he demanded to know why Katara didn’t trust him when everyone else had forgiven him.

To make this moment, this moment about Zuko’s relationship with his uncle who is all but a literal father to him, this moment of vulnerability, of guilt, of remorse, of growth, to claim this powerful moment is about a nonexistent romantic relationship? In my opinion, that is incredibly reductive to what this scene is supposed to signify. And again, there is nothing wrong with people exploring such a possibility in fanon, but in canon? Nah. It doesn’t track.

2. “[Katara] was going with [Zuko] to Azula”

Don’t forget that at first, Zuko planned to take on Azula alone. He doesn’t request Katara to accompany him until Iroh tells him that he’ll need help. As such, Zuko’s immediate agreement with Iroh is reflective of his personal growth (Book 1 and 2 Zuko would have argued and insisted he didn’t need any help). It also demonstrates, however, that Katara was not obsessively on Zuko’s mind. He doesn’t choose Katara until Iroh points out that Zuko will need assistance in taking Azula down. This means that Zuko’s choice of Katara to join him is a tactical decision, not an emotional one. And by all accounts, it’s a damn good decision! Zuko witnessed firsthand beneath Ba Sing Se a) how powerful Katara was (e.g. that wave after Aang died) and b) how Katara was the only one who could take on Azula*.

Of course, besides the fact that Katara was the only match for Azula, who else was Zuko going to choose? Sokka and Suki, while talented in their own right, were no competition for Azula. Toph, while the greatest earthbender in the world, was needed to metalbend the airships. Katara was the only (and the best!) option.

Also, on their trip to face Azula, the only thing they talk about within their three lines of canon conversation are Azula and Aang. Not exactly a romantic flight, lmao.

*Zuko never saw Aang fight Azula on the drill.

3. “[Katara] was healing [Zuko] and saying he saved her not the other way around”

Actually, this is what the transcript says:

Zuko: Thank you, Katara.

Katara: I think I’m the one who should be thanking you.

You’re right about how their lines refer to them saving each other, but you posit it as a romantic moment, when the lines are actually pretty straightforward. Zuko thanks Katara as she heals him from the partially-redirected lightning strike, and Katara thanks him for trying to redirect the lightning away from her and in doing so saving her life. In terms of canon, there’s nothing romantic about this, lol! (Which I talked about extensively in the E-L post, if you need to reference it again.) The reason being is that you have to take the show itself into context when you do analysis. If there was no canon romantic buildup between Zuko and Katara, why would these lines in canon (not fanon! fanon is free rein, lmao) be interpreted through a romantic lens?

Well, they wouldn’t be interpreted as such. Plain and simple.

“I genuinely don’t get why this isn’t seen as romantic.”

Because looking through a canon lens, they aren’t romantic. That’s all. You are of course welcome to view them as such through a fanon lens!! It’s just about recognizing the line between canon and fanon.

“I will grant you that Zuko would not have allowed Azula to kill anyone but I feel the point here was Zuko realizing his life was pointless if Katara was killed.”

I asked earlier what content in the show itself led you to believe. I have wracked my own mind, and I cannot think of anything that would point to this conclusion. Zuko was in Katara’s good graces for 5 episodes. That’s 8% of the show. Not exactly a lot of time for Zuko to start believing his life would be pointless if Katara was killed, is it?

This post explains the improbability of Zuko having a crush on Katara within canon.

This post explains how Zuko’s racism towards the Air Nomads in TSR and the finale is, well, exactly that - racism (and not a sign of a crush on Katara).

And, of course, as has been said a million times, Zuko taking the lightning for Katara out of romantic interest would completely undermine his redemption arc. Since it has been said over and over and over, I will be brief: Zuko taking the lightning is significant because it is a selfless act (one of his only in the series), and it directly parallels his selfish act of choosing not to intervene when Azula killed Aang with lightning beneath Ba Sing Se. This moment demonstrates Zuko’s growth, how he has learned to accept unconditional love from Iroh and the Gaang and Mai and even Ty Lee and sure, even from Appa and Momo, too. To make this moment of pure selflessness about a nonexistent romance? To force a fanon romance in replacement of canon redemption and canon platonic significance?

Such a decision speaks wonders about a person’s priorities, in my opinion, as well as how amatonormativity impacts them.

Furthermore, Zuko’s choice cements Katara’s position as his surrogate sibling, as she is Azula’s primary foil. Zuko chooses the sister who heals over the sister who harms. I won’t go too much into it here, because it has already been talked about extensively before! Thus, I offer you this post that explains how Zuko and Katara - in canon - are positioned as surrogate siblings as well as Azula’s role in this matter. I also offer this post that lays out through screencaps how Zuko and Katara - in canon - treat each other like family.

Additional sources about the final Agni Kai:

This post in part discusses fanon misinterpretation of the final Agni Kai and why such a lens is not true to canon relationships.

This post explains why the final Agni Kai is not intended to be romantic.

This post explains how the final Agni Kai is primarily about Azula and how reducing it to be a big Zvtara moment is detrimental to both her and to Zuko and Katara themselves.

“And then literally at the end, Mai shows up after Zuko not talking about her at all for six episodes and declares herself Zuko’s girlfriend.”

This point could probably get a post of its own, lol, but fortunately I and others have already written a few! I will link them below - first, however, I question your choice of “declares.” Technically, yes, Mai does say outright that it doesn’t hurt how the new Fire Lord is her boyfriend, but your phrasing implies Zuko resisted her proclamation. When… he doesn’t. In fact, he embraces it, asking if that means she doesn’t hate him anymore (read: he asks if they’re back on good terms again). Zuko clearly doesn’t have a problem with the girl he loves wanting to be with him again - so why do some parts of fandom so adamantly insist he does? (Not you, anon - I am referring to the rabid fanoners, lol.)

Also, regarding how Zuko hasn’t talked about Mai for six episodes, we’ve gotta be realistic with this assessment in terms of canon:

1. It was the crux of the war. They were either going to live or die. There was no time for romance at this point! Sokka and Suki weren’t professing their love on the battlefield, lmao, so it’s not exactly strange that Zuko didn’t bust into a monologue about how he missed Mai. I think they were just a little bit distracted by the possible end of the world, lol, and all that jazz.

2. Zuko probably thought Mai was dead. He knows what Azula is like. He knows his sister doesn’t have time for people who get in her way (Aang can testify to this, lmao). So can you blame him for not wanting to think about how the girl he loved had died (to his knowledge) to save him?

You gotta cut the kid some slack, lol. Anyways! Additional sources about Maiko:

This post breaks down the notion of Maiko and “deserve.”

This post rationalizes through a canon lens why Mai’s arrival at the palace surprised Zuko.

This post is the mother of Maiko metas, explaining in tremendous detail why their relationships works, is relevant to canon, and was well-implemented for what its role was.

“And Katara kisses Aang after being annoyed with and by him arguably since The Southern Raiders.”

What in canon has led you to the conclusion that Katara was annoyed with Aang? What specific moments from TSR to the finale made you think Katara was annoyed with Aang and remained annoyed with Aang? Are there any, or are you thinking about fanon interpretation? (Canon vs fanon strikes again!)

In TSR, Katara explicitly thanks Aang for understanding her perspective. Nothing there is indicative of annoyance (and as in the links provided earlier, she was not angry at Aang/Zuko/etc. so much as she was at herself. well, she was a little bit angry with Zuko, lmao). In EIP, Katara is understandably angry at Aang’s decision to kiss her, but Aang completely backs off, and we see in the part 1 of the finale that there are no hard feelings or weird tension between them. Katara in fact actively expresses concern for Aang after Zuko sporadically attacked him when she demands of the firebender, “What’s wrong with you? You could have hurt Aang!” Even when Aang and Katara do butt heads later in the episode as Aang tries to think of a way to defeat Ozai without killing him, Katara doesn’t stay frustrated. Like I said - when she and Zuko are flying to Azula, she demonstrates her unwavering faith in Aang through her belief that he will return. So… where is the annoyance that you feel was present?

With all this mind, i.e. looking strictly at canon, Katara wasn’t annoyed with Aang during this time. Thus, Katara kisses Aang because she loved him. Because he backed off and gave her the space she needed to make a decision about if she wanted to be with him (hence Katara being the one to initiate the kiss). Because the issue was never about if she reciprocated his feelings (they both knew they loved each other) but rather it had to do with the war. At the end of the finale, the war is over, and there is nothing that prevents them from being together. Simple.

This post explains how Katara’s feelings for Aang develop throughout the series (and were not neglected, as rabid zkers like to claim, for some reason? again - you are not one of them, anon).

This post also covers Katara’s interest in Aang throughout the series.

“I can’t understand why Kataang shippers are okay with such a crap story.”

I mean, you definitely don’t have to ship Kataang. It may not be your cup of tea, and that’s totally okay! But as the above links demonstrate, Kataang was a fantastic story. It was well-implemented into the narrative from Day 1. The soulmateism is unparalleled!

Also, it’s worth noting that A:TLA itself was essentially pre-written. The writers knew how the story would end from the get-go, including that the show would end with Kataang. A few Zvtara gags were thrown in to add a sense of “who will Katara choose?” drama as the show aired, but Zuko and Katara were never planned to end up together. One reason so many newer fans are fine with Kataang from the start is that there’s no tension of waiting a week for a new episode when you can watch all 61 episodes straight through on Netflix, lmao. It’s even more obvious now than when A:TLA was airing that Aang and Katara will end up together, if that makes sense. (Although I talked about this in the E-L post linked earlier, so you probably understand this point already, as it was explained in detail there!)

All of this is to say that Kataang is not a “crap story” in terms of writing (again, personal taste is a different matter) because it was woven in from the beginning and had powerful narrative significance! (Kataang represented numerous complementary components of the series, such as yin and yang, push and pull, air and water, Oma and Shu, etc.)

Now. If you really and truly want to understand why Kataang shippers like Kataang, anon, consider reading some Kataang fanfics or exploring some Kataang headcanons. I read fics involving Zvtara more regularly than you might think, lol, because… well, it’s just a ship. I understand the appeal of romantic Zvtara and I can actually appreciate it when it’s well-written! I’m sure if you’re willing to put in just a little legwork (you don’t need to go the whole mile, lmao - ‘tis just fandom), you’ll realize why people like Kataang, even if it isn’t exactly your thing. You have the range, anon!! You got this!

I hope I managed to answer your questions, my friend! As always, you do not have to agree with anything I have said here. It is totally fine if you and anyone else disagrees! Everything above is simply my own perspective on the matter. Thank you for taking the time to read my response and all the different links I provided! I hope it has expanded your understanding of the subject at hand!

#i spent all day writing this lmaooo #TWO WHOLE HOURS SPENT COMPILING LINKS #amy answers #anon #amy analyzes

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ddixons-angel · 3 years

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Requested by Anonymous

This is my first ever scenario request and I honestly had a lot of fun doing it haha big thanks to @twdeadfanfic for helping me out with this one and motivating me with going on, love you!!! This is probably the longest one-shot I’ve written so far, I hope you all like it!

Request - Daryl finds Reader in the woods, alone, dirty, possibly even hurt. She’s been alone so long that she’s scared of anyone she encounters. However, she’s practically glued to his side when he brings her around other people. Daryl has a hard time getting her to talk/leave the house. Fluff and angst

Mid-season 6; Alexandria

Run. That was the only thing on your mind. You just knew you had to run. It’s the only thing that kept you alive for the last few weeks, your only means of survival. You were alone in the woods, not knowing where you were going, the only thing you knew was that nowhere was safe. Without slowing down, you look over your shoulder behind you to gauge how far the dead was from you, but that was a mistake. You found yourself tumbling down to the hard ground as you tripped over a large root of a tree that stuck out of the ground. You let out an involuntary shriek when you feel your hair being grabbed, you had no doubt it was the dead when you feel the cold fingers gripping your arm. This was it. This was how you would die; getting ripped apart while screaming for your life in the middle of a forest.

“Hey, ya a’right?” a rough voice calls out to you.

It was only when you registered the voice that you realized that the dead that had grabbed you was no longer moving or trying to kill you. You look over to the dead body that lay still, there was an arrow of some sort sticking out from its skull. You get up, letting out of a breath of relief but then freeze when you remember that you weren’t alone. Your eyes dart to the figure in front of you; a man with long dark hair and icy blue eyes.

Your first instinct was to run, but your legs weren’t listening to you. They stayed planted in the ground as you felt your knees going weak. The adrenaline from running for hours and hours, days at a time without anything to eat, it was all catching up to you as you stared at the stranger who just undoubtedly saved your life. Rather than answering his first question verbally, your legs give out as you fall into a state of darkness.

---

“So... let me just get this straight...” Rick says as he pushes himself off the kitchen counter he was leaning on and turns to look at Daryl, “you brought someone back but know absolutely nothing about them?”

“Couldn’t get a chance...” Daryl says; he knew how this was going to go down the moment he decided to bring a stranger back to Alexandria with no information on who she was.

“Did you at least get a name? Or if she has a group?” Carol asks, standing by the counter with her arms crossed.

“Told ya I never got a chance to.” Daryl says, frustration evident in his voice.

“I know you’re not stupid, Daryl, but what the hell were you thinking?” Carol pesters on.

“She fainted ‘fore I could ask her anythin’!” Daryl snaps, “wha’ was I s’pposed to do? Leave her out there for the walkers to have at her? That can’t be who we are!”

“And I’m not saying that’s who we are or that you should have left her out there,” Rick says calmly, “I’m just concerned about bringing a complete stranger back, someone we know absolutely nothing about.”

“She’s jus’ a girl, Rick! We got her locked up in that house with people watchin’ over her, she ain’ dangerous, she’s jus’ hurt ‘n’ scared.” Daryl says in defense, the others could tell he was getting emotional.

“I know that, but you can’t blame people here for being worried, people are still shaken up by those Wolves that attacked us a few weeks ago. For all we know, she could be one of them.” Rick tries to reason.

“Well, she ain’.” Daryl says immediately.

“And how do you know?” Rick challenges.

“I don’ see no ‘W’ on her, do you?” Daryl asks rhetorically, “‘sides... we didn’ hesitate bringin’ in Michonne when she showed up at the prison an’ she turned out okay. No offense.”

“None taken,” Michonne chuckles softly at his apology, “why are you so adamant on keeping her here, Daryl? This isn’t like you.”

Daryl lets out a deep sigh before answering the question, “the look in her eyes jus’ before she passed out... she was scared ‘n’ alone... nothin’ bad ‘bout her... so even without askin’ her anythin’ I chose to bring her back ‘cause o’ that look... she ain’ a bad person... but guess I’m jus’ fightin’ y’all on it ‘cause I don’ wanna be wrong again.”

The looks on his friends’ faces soften at his words. They heard what happened a few weeks back when Daryl, Abraham, and Sasha had to lead the herd of walkers away from the community. Daryl ran into some people he thought were good, only to turn on him and steal his things. They all noticed that ever since then, Daryl changed. He started to doubt his own instincts and even his ability to tell who was good and who was bad.

“What if uh...” Glenn pipes in after a moment of silence, “what if we wait for her to wake up and ask her the questions, then make a decision when we hear what she has to say?”

Glenn, Michonne, Carol, and Daryl all look towards Rick, waiting for his decision. After pondering for a moment, he walks over to the kitchen counter and looks at Carol.

“Can you put together a sandwich and get a glass of water? If what Daryl said is true, the girl probably hasn’t eaten in a while, and if we want answers, we should show some sort of hospitality.” Rick says.

Carol sighs softly with a stern look on her face but nods, “okay.”

Rick nods to her as thanks then looks over to Daryl. The two lock eyes, communicating without words as they wait for Carol to prepare the food. Once they’re ready, Daryl takes the plate and glass of water and walks out of the house, following Rick to the jailhouse the community had set up for temporary confinement. Rick knocks on the door before opening it, stepping in with Daryl behind him. The two of them greet Tara as she was given the task to watch over the stranger.

“How is she?” Rick asks, stepping further into the room.

“Still out cold,” Tara informs, glancing back at the sleeping figure on the mattress.

“Well, we brought her food for when she wakes up,” Daryl says, holding up the plate and glass then he heads over to the sleeping girl and places down the meal, “I’ll take over yer shift, Tara.”

Tara nods in understanding and leaves the two of them alone with the sleeping stranger. Daryl goes to sit in the chair that was placed in the corner of the room.

“I’ll be on guard outside, call me in when she wakes up,” Rick says.

“Why ya gonna be on guard outside?” Daryl questions, a frown of confusion on his face, “think I can’t handle her?”

“It’s just in case,” Rick says just before he steps out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Daryl sighs, he knew why Rick was keeping guard outside, he wasn’t stupid and it wasn’t that Rick underestimated his ability. Daryl knew that Rick was aware what this entire thing meant to him. What it would do to him if the stranger he believed to be good turned out to be bad.

His eyes fall back on the sleeping figure in front of him, the peaceful look on her face made his lips involuntarily twitch into a small smile. His smile turns into a frown though when he sees her hands tied up with rope.

“Dammit Rick...” he sighs, then he gets up to untie of the rope.

Daryl thought he had convinced Rick that there was no need to tie her up since she was unconscious. He told them all that she looked frail and weak, as if she hadn’t eaten for days. He thought he got through to Rick with that logic but he was wrong. Although, Daryl couldn’t blame him for being extra careful. Their community had gotten attacked by a group a few weeks back, they couldn’t take any chances.

Kneeling down, Daryl reaches out to the girl’s bound hands and gently tugs at the rope. As he begins to untie the knots, the girl shifts a bit then her eyes start to open. Daryl freezes at the movement and he looks at her face. Her eyes lock with his, looking at him with fear like a deer in headlights. She pulls her hands away and whimpers, backing away from Daryl only to hit the wall behind her.

“It’s okay, I’m not gonna hurt ya,” Daryl says quickly, holding his hands up to show her that he means no harm, “I jus’ wanted to untie yer restraints.”

She continues to stare at him, not moving or saying anything in response and Daryl isn’t quite sure what to do, not sure what exactly to tell Rick about the situation. He woke her up by trying to remove the rope Rick had originally tied as a safety precaution; yeah, he wouldn’t like the sound of that. Daryl sighs and slowly crouches down to her eye level, his hands still out.

“I found ya out in the woods, ya passed out an’ I brought ya back here,” Daryl explains, then he grabs the glass of water, “I can tell ya’ve been out there for awhile, here.”

Slowly, Daryl reaches out and offers her the glass of water. Her eyes glance at the glass then back at him, he can practically see the gears turning in her head whether or not to trust him.

“I ain’ gonna hurt ya, I promise.” Daryl says.

It seems that she heard the sincerity in his voice as Daryl sees her eyes soften. He waits patiently for her to take the glass in which she slowly but surely does. She takes the glass in both hands and she looks at it, then back at Daryl who smiles softly at her. Finally, she starts to drink from the glass. At first she’s taking small sips but her thirst catches up with her as she desperately finishes the contents of the glass within seconds. Daryl reaches out to her again to take the glass from her.

“Brought ya some food too,” he tells her, gesturing to the plate on the ground, “ya wanna let me untie ya so ya can eat?”

She still has her hands close to her chest as she contemplates Daryl’s words. He sees her lips quiver slightly, her eyes peering at the plate on the ground. She takes a few breaths before hesitantly raising her arms towards Daryl, her hands tremble as she holds them out.

“Easy now,” Daryl whispers, carefully and gently untying the rope around her wrists.

He backs away once the ropes are off, pursing his lips together as he gestures to the plate again and sits back on the chair. He watches as she timidly reaches for the sandwich, she picks it up and holds it to her mouth. She pauses, looking at Daryl as if asking him permission with her eyes. He nods at her again, a soft smile on his lips. Daryl can’t help but think that she reminded him of a lost, abandoned puppy. She carefully takes a bite of the sandwich, then another as she starts to feel a little more relaxed.

“There’s more where that came from,” Daryl tells her after she finished the sandwich, “I can get ya another if ya want.”

Before she can respond, the door to the room opens, startling her and she cowers away again with her back against the wall, afraid of Rick who had just walked in. Daryl had gotten up from his seat on the chair and stands between Rick and the girl. Rick frowns as he sees the rope on the ground.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, it’s okay, he’s a friend,” Daryl says gently, trying to calm her down.

“Daryl...” Rick sighs, he beckons him to come over, “you untied her?”

“Ya said to show her some hospitality,” Daryl says.

“I also said to call me when she wakes up,” Rick retorts, he then sighs again, “did you ask her the questions? She tell you anything?”

“Nah, she jus’ finished eatin’. Look at her, she’s scared, man.” Daryl says, gesturing towards her; she had that deer in the headlights look again as she stares at the two.

Rick ponders for a moment then nods pointedly towards her, “alright, let’s ask her now then, are you okay with that?”

Daryl purses his lips and nods. The two make their way towards the girl again and she watches them, mainly Rick, warily. Rick takes the chair and sets it down in front of her before sitting on it as Daryl stands idly behind him. He notices that she flinches at Rick’s every movement as if afraid that he was going to hit her.

“My name is Rick Grimes,” he starts, “now, I’m gonna ask you a few questions and I want you to answer me as honest as you can, can you do that?”

She stares at him, not blinking, her eyes hard again showing her distrust for Rick, and when she stays silent, he continues, “how many walkers have you killed?”

Daryl waits anxiously for her to answer, he chews his bottom lip, nervous when she doesn’t respond. She just continues to stare at Rick.

“I’m gonna ask you again, how many walkers have you killed?” Rick repeats, seemingly running out of patience.

After another moment of complete silence from the stranger, Rick huffs and gets up from the chair. Daryl steps to him putting his hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

“Lemme try, a’right?” Daryl says softly.

Rick sighs and nods, stepping back to let Daryl try with the questioning. Daryl carefully kneels down instead of sitting on the chair, catching the girl’s attention again. Her eyes seem to soften when she looks at him.

“Ya a’right?” Daryl asks, his voice gentle, he continues when he sees her nod shyly, “I’m sorry ‘bout him, he can be a real pain in the ass sometimes.”

Rick furrows his brows at this, not in annoyance, rather in confusion. Daryl has never been like this to a complete stranger before, he was always serious when interrogating new people. This is the first time he’s been so lightheartedly joking around with someone and if the circumstances were different, Rick would be teasing him about it.

“‘M gonna ask ya some questions, a’right? An’ I want ya to be as honest as possible, if ya do that for me, maybe I can get ya another sandwich,” Daryl says, nodding pointedly to the empty plate.

The girl bites her lips together in hesitation but then she nods again. Rick crosses his arms as he watches, an impressed smirk forms on his lips.

“How many walkers have ya killed?” Daryl asks, he catches the look of confusion in her eyes at the term they’d all become used to, “the walkers out there, the dead, how many have ya killed?”

She furrows her brows once she understands the question, she shrugs then lets out a small whisper, “a lot.”

“Wha’ ‘bout people?” Daryl asks, “how many people have ya killed?”

There’s a look in her eyes when she hears his question that Daryl isn’t quite sure how to describe. It was a mix of hurt, fear, and guilt. It was a look that told him that she had definitely killed at least one person. Tears well up in her eyes, as if she was reliving the memory.

She takes a deep breath before whispering again, “one...”

“Why?” Daryl asks the last question, furrowing his brow in concern at her body language.

She looks away from him, cowering back again and her arms wrap around her own body in a protective hug, her hands grasp tightly to the fabric of her shirt. Daryl sighs at the sight of this then he turns to look at Rick; both of them knew exactly what her body language meant and why she had to kill. The two men communicate without words then Daryl turns his attention back to the girl.

“Hey,” he calls out, his voice soft, “what I promised ya before, ‘bout not hurtin’ ya, I meant it. I ain’ gonna hurt ya, none o’ us will.”

She looks at Daryl again, her eyes watery but there was that same softness in them that told him that she trusted him. She nods, her grasp on her clothing loosening slightly. Daryl gives her a small smile then turns to look at Rick.

“Can ya go an’ bring Denise here?” Daryl asks him.

Rick opens his mouth to speak but then decides against it, trusting Daryl and his instincts. Rick nods then heads out to find the community’s doctor. Daryl looks back at the girl who’s now staring at him.

“Ya got a name?” Daryl asks, “‘cause I don’ wanna just keep calling ya ‘girl’.”

A hint of a smile tugs at her lips at his attempt at humoring her, she whispers, “Y/N.”

“You’re gonna be safe here with us, Y/N.” Daryl tells her, “I ain’ gonna let anyone hurt ya.”

Daryl didn’t know what made him say those words to her. From what he could remember, he’s never said those kinds of words to anyone, not out loud at least. He’s always been the type to say those words through actions, but there was something about Y/N that made Daryl feel the need to convince her that they were good; for some reason, he needed her to know that.

It seemed as though his words got through to her as her smile grew slightly and she nods at him, trusting his word. Unfortunately, her smile was replaced by another look of fear when there was a sudden knock on the door. Daryl quickly glances over to the door as it opens; it was Denise. He looks back over at Y/N who has yet again put up defensive walls, wary of another stranger now in the room.

“It’s okay, Y/N, it’s okay, she’s a friend, a doctor, she’s here to help ya,” Daryl says in a soft voice before getting up to greet Denise.

“Hey,” Denise smiles at him, “uh, Rick said you sent for me?”

“Yeah, the girl I brought back, Y/N, was hopin’ ya could make sure she’s okay. She also has some cut ‘r somethin’ on her left forearm,” Daryl tells her, he’d taken note of the dried blood on her sleeve.

“I figured it was something like that,” Denise says with a smile, showing her medkit she’d brought with her, she then goes over to Y/N who is staring at her warily, “hi, I’m Denise.”

Y/N doesn’t say anything in response to her friendly introduction, instead she cowers away. Her body language clearly telling Denise that she does trust her and to stay away. Denise furrows her brows at this but she takes no offense as she heard from Rick that she must have been outside for a long time alone.

“Y/N,” Daryl makes his way over to her, he crouches down to her eye level, “she’s helped a lot ‘o people, even me, she’s a good person.”

Denise furrows her brows when she takes notice of how Y/N’s expression changes when she looks at Daryl. Her eyes were soft and trusting, as if allowing only Daryl to see a completely vulnerable side to her. A smile reaches Denise’s face when she gets an idea.

“Daryl,” she calls out to get his attention, “I think you should treat her.”

He turns to look at her with a confused look on his face, “wha’?”

Denise sighs at his ability to be so oblivious then beckons him to come closer so she can explain, “she trusts you, Daryl, way more than she trusts me, you can see that just by the way she looks at you compared to me. I’ll take a look at her wounds, but if she needs stitches, you’re going to have to be the one to do them, I’ll only end up hurting her if I stitch her up while she’s tense.”

Daryl purses his lips together, nodding as he understands what Denise was saying, “a’right.”

“Don’t worry though,” Denise pats his shoulder, a teasing smile on her face, “I’ll still be here to guide you through it.”

He scoffs playfully at her then he goes back to Y/N’s side, crouching down beside her again, “Denise is gonna take a look at yer arm, okay? Jus’ to make sure it ain’ infected, then I’ll help ya patch it up.”

Y/N bites her lips together, glancing down at her arms then back at Daryl. Her eyes told him that she wasn’t quite sure how Daryl knew about her injury, but she nods in agreement to his words. Slowly but surely, she pulls up the sleeve of her left arm, revealing a gash. Denise carefully takes a step closer to see the wound and Y/N flinches at the movement. She stares at Denise then glances at Daryl who nods at her encouragingly. She hesitantly extends her arm towards Denise so that she can examine her wound. Denise raises both of her hands to show that she means her no harm then takes another step towards the mattress.

“It doesn’t seem to be infected, which is a really good thing. And it doesn’t look that deep so I don’t think you’ll need stitches either,” Denise says with a smile after examining the wound, “the only part that might hurt is when Daryl has to disinfect the wound, but other than that, you’ll be okay. Now, do you have any other injuries we should know about?”

Y/N shakes her head at the question and Daryl smiles softly at her, then gestures to Denise, “told ya she��s a good person.”

Denise chuckles then hands Daryl her medkit, “I’ll leave this with you, I trust you know how to patch up a simple wound without messing up too badly?”

He rolls his eyes at her then scoffs, “yeah, I done it enough times.”

“I’ll leave you to it then,” Denise laughs then walks towards the door, but then she turns to Y/N as she remembers something, “by the way, if you end up feeling sick or feverish in any way, you have to let Daryl know right away, that could be a sign that your wound got infected by his dirty hands.”

“Jus’ go a’ready!” Daryl scoffs making Denise laugh at his reaction just before she leaves the building, he looks back at Y/N, “I won’ give ya an infection...”

“I know.” she says in a slight whisper.

Daryl smiles at this then places the medkit on the ground. He opens it and takes out an alcohol swab, tearing open the small packet then looks at Y/N. She seems to know what he wants as she extends her arm towards him.

He gently takes hold of her arm, “this might sting a bit.”

He begins to gently dab at the wound, cleaning off the dried blood and dirt on her skin. He furrows his brows when Y/N winces at the sting. Daryl proceeds to blow onto the wound to try and soothe the pain. Once he’s done cleaning the wound, he dresses it with a bandage.

“How’s that feel?” he asks her, leaning back a bit to give her some space.

She looks down at the bandage and a small smile tugs at her lips before she looks up at Daryl, “a lot better... thank you.”

Daryl returns her smile and nods, a small moment of silence passes when he dares to pose his next question, “do ya have a group?”

He watches as her brows furrow in confusion at his words so Daryl tries to word his question differently, “do ya have a camp or a group ya stayed with?”

Finally understanding his question, Y/N shakes her head, “no... I did but... I lost them...”

“‘M sorry...” Daryl says, he purses his lips, seeming nervously shy, “did ya wanna stay here? We got food, water, walls, ya’ll be safe here.”

Y/N bites her lips together as if unsure how to answer, “...can I?”

“Yeah, we got a few houses we can spare, won’t be a problem,” Daryl says, “so ya jus’ gotta tell me if ya wanna stay, I ain’t gonna force ya if ya don’t wanna.”

Although he hadn’t spoken with Rick on the matter of Y/N staying yet, he was sure that their leader would be accepting of it after seeing her. Daryl was sure Rick could see that Y/N wasn’t a threat to their community. He watches as she carefully contemplates her choices then finally she looks up at him with a soft smile and nods.

“I want to stay... with you.” she says shyly.

Daryl couldn’t help the shy smile that tugs on his lips, he also couldn’t help the blood rushing to his face as he blushes at her words, “a’right... let me jus’ talk to Rick, figure out where ya can stay. Wait here”

With that, he gets up and heads for the door. Just before he leaves the room, he turns and gives her another reassuring smile.

---

You stayed sat on the mattress in the room for what felt like a few hours, obediently waiting for Daryl to come back. You trusted Daryl. You didn’t know why but there was just something about him that made you believe that you could trust him. Maybe it was the way he looked at you, or how he did his best to make sure that you felt comfortable. You couldn’t explain it, and it wasn’t like you trusted easily either. You didn’t get the same sense of comfort when Daryl’s friend, Rick, came by and started interrogating you. You didn’t even feel that safe when the doctor, Denise, came to help you, and she looked completely harmless, although you had to learn the hard way to not judge a book by its cover.

With everything you’ve been through though, you couldn’t help but feel jumpy or nervous and that proved to still be the case when there was a knock on the door. The end of the world forced you to always be on high alert, but you found yourself relaxing when you saw Daryl walk back into the room. There was a feeling in your heart that confused you when you saw him, as if you were happy that he came back to you. As if you missed him. That was a feeling that felt so foreign to you, but you couldn’t help it.

“Ya a’right?” Daryl asks, crouching down again, he continues when you nod, “I talked to Rick, an’ he talked to some o’ the others. They’re okay with ya stayin’.”

You smile at his words. It was only then that you realized just how much you wanted to stay in this place. How much you wanted to stay with Daryl.

“C’mon, I’ll show ya ‘round an’ where ya’ll be stayin’.” Daryl says as he stands up, holding his hand out for you.

You glance at his hand then back at him. Carefully, you reach up and take his outreached hand and he gently helps you stand. His other hand hovering around your body to make sure you don’t fall. Once you’re steadily on your feet, he guides you out of the house. You have to shield your eyes from the intense rays of the sun at first but once your eyes adjusted to the light, you gasp lightly in disbelief.

This place was.... Incredible. You never thought you’d ever see a place like this, not after the world ended. It felt as if you went back in time when the dead didn’t roam the Earth, this place was like one of those suburbs with huge houses you could only dream of affording.

You look over at Daryl when you hear him let out a soft chuckle. He must have caught your bewildered expression as you ogled at your surroundings. You look down at the ground, shy and embarrassed as you blush.

“C’mon,” he says, tugging at your hand gently.

He must have sensed that you were embarrassed as he didn’t comment on the look on your face. You follow him around, trying to ignore the growing butterflies in your stomach as Daryl holds your hand. He points out the house that he’s staying in as the two of you walk by it. You feel slightly shy as you spot some of the people watching you walk with Daryl. By the sly smiles on their faces, you were sure it was because the two of you were holding hands.

“Infirmary’s over there,” Daryl says, pulling you out of your thoughts as he points over to the house where you see Denise sitting on the porch reading, “if ya need anythin’ or yer arm starts to act up, ya can go an’ find Denise, she’ll help ya out.”

You smile and nod at Daryl in acknowledgement then continue to follow him around until he stops in front of one of the large houses.

“This one’s yers.” he tells you, making you gawk at him.

“Mine?” you question, not believing it.

When Daryl said that they’d figure out where you could stay, you thought you would have a room that you shared with someone, not an entire house to yourself.

“Yeah, we got a few houses to spare... if ya don’ like it, ya can look at one o’ the other free ones,” Daryl bites his lip nervously, as if he was afraid you wouldn’t like it.

You quickly shake your head, “no, it’s not that I don’t like it... I just... didn’t think...”

You trail off as you look at the large house in front of you, slightly intimidated. Daryl seems to sense this as well as he gently tugs at your hand again, then he nods pointedly towards the house. You understand his intent and begin to step towards the house. You walk up the porch slowly, continuously taking hesitant glances back at Daryl to make sure he’s still following behind you; he had let go of your hand, much to your dismay.

Taking a deep breath, you slowly open the door to the house. Although you knew that the house was empty, part of you still expected to be greeted by snarls and growls of the dead. You guessed that being on your own and running from the dead for weeks would do that to you.

“Wow...” you say breathlessly as you step into the house.

This wasn’t just a house, this was a mansion. Even just looking at the kitchen, it was twice as big as any room you stayed in, before and after the world ended. It looked to be fully furnished, clean, completely untouched by the outside world. You had a hard time believing your eyes as you looked around in awe.

“Is this... real?” you hear yourself wonder out loud.

“It is,” Daryl says from behind you and you turn to look at him, he smiles softly at you, “ya like it?”

You return his smile and nod, “I do... thank you.”

There’s a sort of sweet silence between you two before Daryl clears his throat, maybe he felt awkward, “I’ll leave ya to it, get settled ‘r somethin’...”

You feel your heart drop at his words, something you haven’t felt in a long time, “what?”

“I showed ya where my place is, if ya need me, I’ll be there.” Daryl nods and he begins to turn to leave.

A slight panic rises in your chest when you see him turn. You didn’t want him to go, you didn’t want to be alone. It was true that you were safe in a community, surrounded by walls and protected from the dead, but you were still afraid of being left alone.

Before Daryl could leave, you quickly step to him and reach out, your fingers clutching onto his. He turns around to face you again, a confused look on his face. You notice his eyes soften when he looks at you.

“Please don’t go...” you say in a small voice, “please stay...”

Daryl purses his lips together, not sure of what to say. You can tell that he’s thinking of what to do. You were sure that he was trying to think of a way to tell you that he shouldn’t stay. You were practically begging him with your eyes.

“Okay.” Daryl says with a shy smile after a moment of silence.

You couldn’t help the smile on your face at his words. Daryl had agreed to stay with you. He had saved your life, brought you back to his community and given you a home. On top of everything he already did for you, he even agreed to stay with you. Even if you had just met him that day, you knew that he would be able to keep you safe. And for the first time in a really, really long time, you finally felt safe.

---

This was one of my very first attempts at writing in Daryl’s perspective so I hope I did it justice! Please let me know what you thought about this one, I personally loved writing it haha

Taglist (please let me know if you’d like to be added/removed!):

#Daryl Dixon #Daryl Dixon Fanfic #Daryl Dixon Fanfiction #Daryl Dixon Imagine #Daryl Dixon X Reader #Daryl Dixon X You #Daryl Dixon & Reader #Daryl Dixon/Reader #TWD Fanfic #TWD #TWD Fanfiction #TWD Imagine #The Walking Dead #The Walking Dead Fanfic #The Walking Dead Fanfiction #The Walking Dead Imagine

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